The Arc Dragon
by Timetraveling Author
Summary: Many different secrets came to light that night. However the most unexpected perhaps was Jaune Arc's secret. It's one thing to discover something about an enemy, its something else when you learn that one of your friends is actually larger than some of your classrooms. And such secrets tend to raise following questions about true intentions, friendships, and what you believe.
1. Oh God! It's a Dragon!

**AN: All right, let's do this. Let's see how this turns out…** **This was suppose to be fast but while writing I had to keep adding details. Initially the Breach was going to be one chapter. Now it's looking more like 4 or 5. But that's the fun of writing!**

 **Edited and Beta'd by Cruzerblade on 7/13/17**

* * *

 **Chapter 1-Oh God It's A Dragon!**

* * *

Beacon was ablaze. As team JNPR ran from the landing platforms and into the school, Ren couldn't help but stop and take it all in. Everywhere he looked, all he could see was destruction, fires burning and grimm ravaging the school buildings. He absently noted the tree JNPR studied under had been torn from the ground and was set alight. Smoke rose from the buildings around him. The courtyard was teeming with White Fang, grimm, and rogue Atlas knights and paladins. It had barely been half an hour and already the school was in shambles—It was unbelievable. Ren could only stand and stare at the chaos; horrible memories clashing with the scene before him. It was just like when he was a kid-fires raged, the injured everywhere, and the deafening screams of terror.

A friendly pat on the back shook him out of his daze. He tore his gaze from the carnage and focused on Nora, who grinned back with a strained smile. She remained quiet, sending him silent encouragement, as she transformed Magnhild into a hammer and stepped forward to join the rest of Team JNPR. Nora's reassuring slap doing its job, a revitalized Ren reloaded Stormflower and stepped forward to join his friends. As they moved forward together as a team, an ear-shattering screech echoed out, forcing them to cup their ears… as a team. They turned their attention to the source of the sound—in the distance, a mountain top had shattered, revealing a massive black and white monstrosity with massive wings making its way towards them from across the water.

Oh, and apparently a dragon grimm had broken out of a mountain top, which had apparently been its resting place for centuries and was now flying around the school, spawning grimm.

Of Course.

The monstrous grimm must have been huge, from this distance it looked like as big as a bullhead. If it looked that large from that distance then how massive was it? As big as one of Ironwood's war ships? Bigger? How could they even try to fight something like that?

Ren was not having a good day.

He stared at the oncoming grimm, his mouth pulled back into a thin line. They would be fine; their team was together… so what if they were facing a seemingly endless hoard of grimm with White Fang and Atlas robots added to the mix? Who cared that Vale, one of the major four kingdoms was nearly in ruins? They could take it… maybe. The large beast let out a shriek that echoed across the Beacon, as though it knew that Ren was trying to minimize its presence in the battle.

… It was fine.

They had a Nora and a Pyrrha.

He relaxed a bit as they all stood together, Team JNPR unified and ready to take on the world, standing alongside the other teams from the tournament. Each competent fighters in their own right. This is what they had trained for. They were good; Jaune was not shaking, in fact he looked calm and collected! Nora seemed focused so she most likely wouldn't hit any of them as she fought; and they had Pyrrha Nikos! Pyrrha! Nikos! Top of her class at Sanctum, four-time winner of the Mistral Regional Tournament! And all around...bad...as—

"Pyrrha?"

"Where is she going?"

They had Pyrrha Nikos… who was walking away from them.

Jaune took a hesitant step towards her, as though to follow, but before he could take another, the large dragon grimm let out another monstrous roar. He stopped and to Ren's eyes, Jaune seemed to grow taller as he straightened and glared up at the titan as though it had personally made fun of his favorite onesie., Ren wondered what was going through his leader's head.

"Nora!" Jaune yelled suddenly, his gaze fixed on the dragon grimm. "Go with Pyrrha and Ozpin, stay with them until you can join up with me and Ren later."

Ren felt his eyebrows raise as Nora spluttered out a confused "W-what?"

Split both partner pairs? Why? Ren and Nora worked well together, he'd distract the enemies while Nora went in for a finishing bow. Just what was Jaune thinking? Had he hit his head in the fight to the tower's base?

Jaune broke his stare from the flying grimm and locked eyes with Nora, a strained expression on his face, "I have… something I need to take care of up here and Pyrrha is probably going to need back up. Help her. Stay with her, and come back to us." Jaune rushed out. "Please."

Nora tilted her head as if the strange request was make her head top heavy before straightening up and giving him a dramatic salute, "Right away, fearless leader!"

The next thing Ren knew, he was being lifted off the ground as Nora briefly attempted to locked him in a bear hug.

"Don't you get hurt on me." She murmured into his back before she released him. Nora gave him a smile that was a little too wide for her. She was scared. Nora shouldn't be scared and worry about him. That was his job, to worry about her. Not the other way around. "Don't you dare get hurt or else you'll have to make me a hundred pancakes…"

They stood for a moment staring at each other.

"Make sure he doesn't hurt himself, all right?" Nora asked, keeping her eyes on his face,

Ren could only blink and then Nora was gone, running back into the doorway that Pyrrha had disappeared into. He turned his attention out at the courtyard where the other students were fighting the grimm and soldiers. They were extremely effective as they paired off and left nothing but defeated enemies behind.

In short, there was a seemingly endless horde of grimm, rogue robots, and what looked to be White Fang members moving in amongst the chaos—and they didn't have Nora or Pyrrha to back them up.

Ren was not having a good day.

"All right…" Jaune exhaled, surveying the area, "We need to secure a safe zone for the others to fall back to when they need a rest. Let's work our way out from the center and try and give them support!"

Ren nodded, feeling slightly better. Jaune was probably the best person he knew that could come up with effective strategies under pressure. It's what allowed them to excel during team exercises despite having a weak link.

Ren charged towards an ursa, he pelted it with bullets and jumped up, aiming a kick at its head.

" _They'll be fine_ ". Ren told himself as the ursa's head impacted the ground with a loud thud. They were split up, but they were still an effective team. He continued to tell himself that they'd be fine as he kicked off the ursa's head to engage a gryphon that had just landed.

He only wished that he could believe it.

* * *

 _Ah scales… A Spawner, Pyrrha's run off, and I'm surrounded by people who'd have questions if I changed. Questions that I can't answer. What do I do? I can't leave the Spawner alive, that'd break the accords! This is bad. This is bad. This is really really bad._

 _Okay… Breathe. Kill some Grimm. And Plan. You're good at plans. You can do this. Just think of the best way to protect everyone...without losing! It's fine! Just like class. Let's see…_

…

…

…

 _!_

 _..._

… _That's a terrible plan…_

* * *

The battle raged on, Grimm and White Fang were being taken out left and right only for more to pop up and take their place. It didn't help that the Atlas robots had turned on them, all it did was create another enemy to defeat. They threw everything they had at them and it still wasn't enough to win. To Ren it felt like every other second, he had to take an enemy down just to keep himself from being overwhelmed, he wasn't given any time to recover and take stock of the situation.

"Ren!"

Luckily, he didn't have to.

Jaune had been a lifesaver, directing Ren to where they were needed the most and making sure that each student wasn't left fighting by themselves. He kept them close to the center, which allowed them to assist each student as needed and kept an open space for them to retreat to if they got overwhelmed.

Ren shook off a Beowolf that had fallen onto him, as he checked himself briefly for injuries and moved to assist Jaune in taking out another griffon grimm before heading towards the entrance to the courtyard where some Atleasian Paladins had appeared.

"What's the plan?" Ren asked, firing at the grimm they passed, giving the other students a brief respite from the onslaught.

At first Ren thought that Jaune didn't respond, before he noticed that his leader's lips were moving and leaned in closer to try and hear what he had to say.

"-step carefully and take off before others come…." he whispered out in a hushed voice.

Ren looked at Jaune with a puzzled expression. He seemed…off, he hadn't slowed down once since the beginning of the fight and seemed unusually focused. Then again, it was a weird day, what with the terrorist attacks and everything else that was going on. But even then, Jaune was never know for panicked whispers. Ren opened his mouth to speak but was cut off as Jaune called out.

"Weiss!"

The Schnee Heiress' eyes shifted to them for a moment before returning to the Paladin before them.

"We're Kind of busy Jaune. If you didn't notice the Paladins and the fight going on!"

Ren came to a stop as he finally got a good look at the Atlas Paladin. It was… big. Large guns and mechanical pistons moving faster than anything that size had the right to be moving. Chrome plating with a steady barely audible hum that promised power and pain to anyone foolish enough to try and fight it. And jumping all around it, holding her own was Velvet.

Ren could hardly believe that this was the same faunas who was bullied by Cardin, so much so that he nearly didn't recognized her. She ran circles around the machine, switching between various hard-light weapons that appeared in her hands forming and dissipating as she pushed the robot back. His weapon Storm Flower, Crescent Rose and all the other weapons he had seen the other combatants in the Vytal Festival use. Each one formed for a moment, allowing Velvet to deal massive damage to the mechanical exoskeleton before dissipating, the next weapon immediately forming so that she could follow up the last attack. It was… impressive.

"Ren!"

Ren broke his gaze away as Jaune's arms fell firmly on his shoulders. His sword was put away and the look in his eye made Ren give Jaune his full attention.

He looked desperate.

"Stay with Weiss during this fight and work together until Nora and Pyrrha come back out. Then stick together with everyone else! Do you understand?"

Ren was confused. Why did Jaune look so scared? They were doing well! The grimm were being held off and no one had been seriously injured yet. Sure, they were still in a bad spot and that…grimm beast flying around Beacon needed to be addressed, but why was he so panicked?

Stay with Weiss? "But what about you?" What was he planning to do?

Jaune's face morphed into a bitter smile. "I'm going to kill a dragon."

Ren's eyes widened as he opened his mouth about to ask exactly what he meant, when a cry from Velvet stole his attention. The Paladin had gotten a lucky punch in and knocked the Faunus back, landing hard on the ground, separating her from the group of students that were watching.

Jaune cursed and pushed Ren away from him as he turned, sprinting towards the Paladin throwing Crocea Mors away from his body as he ran.

"Jaune!" Ren called out, terrified for his seemingly suicidal leader. He knew that Jaune's nickname was fearless leader but that wasn't an invitation for him to be-

"What are you doing you dunce!?" Screamed Weiss as she ran in a wide arc around the Paladin, glyphs appearing beneath her feet as she ran, boosting her forward to try and save

Velvet.

Ren ran forward as well, unsure of what to do to help his suddenly brainless leader.

Jaune paid no attention to either of them, sprinting as fast as he could to get to the paladin. Far above them, the grimm dragon let out another shriek.

* * *

 _Crap Crap Crap Crap. Okay. No better plan. Gotta go with Plan: "Stupid". It'll be fine!_

…

 _I hope._

 _All right! Showtime! Let's not die or accidentally kill our friends!_

* * *

Weiss was furious. What did that brainless blond idiot think he was doing? Charging straight in without any backup. Was he trying to get himself killed? Then again, she wasn't really the one to talk, since she was running in to do essentially the same thing.

Well… she did have her weapon out.

…

That was something.

She tried to move faster, skilling off her glyphs to gain as much speed as possible. She had to save both Velvet and Jaune now, but how was she going to do that? One just took a heavy hit from some Atlas technology while the other had seemed to lose all sense as he ran straight at the robot's back, dropping his weapon as he ran. She couldn't save them both… she didn't even know if she could save one of them, her fighting style wasn't exactly made for taking direct hits like this. But there had to be a way!

Time was up. She stood in front of Velvet, pausing just a bit to register the paladins raised arm. If she moved, Velvet would die. But she couldn't block something like this. It was too much force! Jaune would just have to save himself. She raised Myrtenaster, closing her eyes as she braced for the blow. Even if she couldn't outright block the blow, maybe she could deflect it or push it to the side…

Anything so that she could live.

She wanted to live.

She braced for pain, mental, and a whole lot of force. However instead, a long drawn out sound of twisting metal met her ears as several large thumps seemed to echo around the courtyard. She kept her eyes shut as the sound slowly died off, still waiting for a blow that was heading her way. Except...?

It had gone silent.

No wait… there was a sound. It was a quiet deep sound that came in went. She knew that sound. It sounded like… like...

Breathing.

Weiss opened one eye and then the other, her face and stance going slack at what she saw. This… this was too much she thought as she fell to her knees, shocked at what she was looking at.

A giant scaly golden claw pressed into the stone where the Paladin was. Part of the arm the only visible sign that the claw was stepping on anything other than ground. Slowly she followed her gaze up the claw to the large forearm, to the even large torso and finally to stare into the

eyes of the large reptile.

It was a dragon. Not a grimm dragon, but a genuine golden scaly dragon…that was also very big. To say that the dragon was large was an understatement. The dragon was massive, it's body occupying most of the courtyard as it carried itself above the heads of the students. Weiss's gaze drifted over the golden scales, easily the size of dinner plates. Large lean muscles bigger than most people she knew rippled beneath them the surface as the creature shifted. It lifted the claw that had … smashed the paladin and Weiss stared at the flatten scraps of metal remains as the claw resettled towards the outside of the courtyard, giving it a wider stance.

A low rumbling voice rang out, drawing Weiss's attention to the creature's head once again. The head that was just slightly smaller than her bedroom that she shared with three other girls. The head that snaked down from the top of the large body, it's neck bringing it just over the two girls. The head with piercing glowing blue eyes that seemed to stare into her soul. The head that was… opening.

Standing up on shaky legs, Wise turned her body towards Velvet, not breaking her gaze from the massive reptile as she began to tug at the girl's shoulder, trying to pull the Faunus off to the side as fast as possible.

The dragon's mouth hung open for a moment before a flickering light began to grow at the back of it. Weiss finally broke her gaze and turned her attention fully towards Velvet. They needed to move now before they were charred by the sudden dragon that had decided to appear before them. The faunus groaned, still injured from the direct blow she took.

"Blast it." Weiss muttered as she set Velvet down and took hold of her rapier. If she couldn't get them far enough away to shelter then she'd have to make some right where they were. Switching to her blue dust cartridge, she aimed the tip directly in front of them and discharged it, making sure to use up the entire cartridge. "Please let this work," Weiss muttered as the blue dust quickly turned to ice, building a large ice barrier between them and the beast, hopefully sheltering them from what was about to come.

Then the heat hit.

She squeezed her eyes shut and huddled down, hoping that ice would provide enough protection from the scorching heat that was passing around them. She felt cool water slosh by her feet, melting off the ice mount and pooling at her feet as the heat continues to envelop the two. Cracking an eye one, she looked at the brilliant flames that surrounded her. Rich yellows and orange assaulted her eyes as they passed the two girls in an impressive stream, reaching far past the edge of the courtyard. She watched with a mixed sense of dread and awe as the cement directly exposed to the flames began to warp and crack. The ice hissed as the puddle of water spread far enough away from the ice that it began its process of turning directly to steam. Weiss swallowed dryly as she left the mound of ice at her back began to shrink closer and closer to her.

Just when she considered discharging another round of dust to maybe try and disrupt the fire, it cut off. The flames finally ending as Weiss blinked owlishly at the sudden darkness. She could barely see as her eyes tried to adjust to the sudden dark. A large thump on either side of her echoed out as darkness began to slowly give way to…. Scales. The dragon had stepped over them. As more details began to come into focus, she watched as the beast reared up onto its hind legs, large wings unfolding and spreading out, sending the entire area into a dark shadow. The dragon stood tall, its massive head held far above them as it bent and twisted to face directly at the grimm dragon that was flying even further above their heads. The massive ceiling that made up the creature's chest expanded and it… it…

It took a deep breath in and roared.

A large rumbling that Weiss could feel vibrating in the ground, shaking her to her core. A primal call that echoed throughout the area, temporarily silencing the sounds of battle and panic in the distance. Muting the call of battle, and with seeming ease, its large wings began to move, forcing air violently to the ground. Thrown off by the sudden maelstrom, Weiss was sent sprawling onto the ground, tripping over the prone Velvet behind her.

* * *

Ren… didn't know what to think.

Pyrrha, one of the strongest and most dependable people in Beacon had seemingly abandoned

them right when they had engaged the Grimm. All of them together and ready to defend their home. And then she left. Then, rather than following her himself, their fearless leader, Jaune, sends Nora to go after her. Finally, Jaune Arc, Onesie wearing man, voice cracking, novice swordsman who didn't know when to stop hitting on the same girl and to take a hint and just hook up with his partner…. turned into a dragon.

A Big dragon.

A flying big dragon.

A giant flying fire breathing dragon that was larger than some airships.

Ren stood with the other dumbfounded students as the dragon's wings slowly lifted it off the ground and out of the courtyard.

That was his teammate.

Jaune Arc.

The man who, if Pyrrha was to be believed, didn't know what aura was initially at the start of orientation.

 _What?_

They might have stood there for another couple of hours had not additional grimm made their presence known as they ran into the courtyard, letting out cries as they walked through the melted cement before making their way slowly towards the teens. Ren jogged up to Weiss, helping her off Velvet as the other students engaged the grimm.

Making his way carefully across the ground that had previously been glowing cherry red, he approached the two girls who were huddled against a small rock of ice and water that flowed out slowly, steaming as it crossed over the hot earth. To Ren's relief, the two appeared to be all right, Velvet blinking beadily up at the sky, her eyes still unfocused, but much better than Ren had initially feared. With the immediate injured taken care of, he turned his attention to Weiss.

The Heiress was a mess, her eyes wide and her jaw hanging open. Hair blown haphazardly over her face with her head craned to keep the dragon in sight even as she dusted herself off.

"A dragon. A dragon is here in Beacon. A dragon... and a dragon grimm and the white fang… and- "

"We can't focus on that now." Ren interrupted, "Right now we need to fight. We can deal with… that later."

Weiss blinked owlishly at him for a second before her eyes cleared and narrowed. "Right, we need to secure Beacon and clear these… riffraff from out school. The teachers can handle the d-dragon." She stood up and surveyed the area, taking note of the incoming grimm. She paused as she spied three large molten lumps that sat at the edge of the courtyard. What were those? Was there something in that direction previously? Weiss thought back on the courtyard before…before the dragon had arrived. There was the statue in the center… Most of the benches and trees had been destroyed during combat… Jaune had destroyed the t-

"Where'd Jaune go?" Weiss asked, spinning around her eyes scanning the combatants.

Ren froze, how was he supposed to explain what he had just saw? His friend running forward and suddenly growing, his head bubbling out as golden scales spread across his skin. How his friend apparently breathed fire at the girls to melt the Paladins complexly and outright that had been approaching from behind them.

"Ren?" Weiss asked, as the boy went to retrieve the dropped Crocea Mors, supporting Velvet across his back.

"Well…"

* * *

 _Well… Weiss and Velvet are safe! So that's good! And those two paladins are taken care of… A-and now I can fight the Spawner! That'll help and hopefully make sure no hunters attack me as well. God, they better not attack me. That'd make this so much harder. And then I'll turn back and… and…_

 _Man, this is going to need a lot of explaining…_

* * *

The battle raged on, with a slow battle line being drawn along the streets of vale and the grounds of Beacon. With the destruction of the Atlas flag ship, the Atlas robots and Paladins were removed from the fight, giving the hunters an edge against the continuous grimm, but only an edge. With the White Fang breaching barriers and walls to let the grimm walk through, both sides were locked in a standstill, with neither one gaining ground.

For Qrow, it was probably one of the few situations he was poorly suited for. The longer a battle was drawn out, the greater chance his semblance had to trip up his comrades and allies. It had only taken a little bit before an accidental bump from him nearly caused a building to collapse on some civilians. If Glynda hadn't been there….

"Come on you dirty teddy bear!" he hollered as he slammed an Alpha Beowolf into the pavement, "That's right, focus on the shiny!"

The Ursa let out a low growl as it turned away from one of the apartment complexes and turned its attention towards the Hunter. Hopefully that would give whoever inside a chance to get to one of the evacuation zones being maintained by other Hunters.

Qrow was as far into the hoard of grimm as he could possibly get, splitting off from Glynda and Ironwood temporarily to let them organize the evacuation and hold the front line. A pleasant job of escorting terrified civilians, acting like you knew what you were doing as an entire kingdom went up in flames and fighting Grimm and the White Fang while trying the fear from the civilians draw them straight to you.

Qrow shuddered as he bisected a King Taijitu. Give him grimm and undercover missions any day of the week. The scythe wielding hunter finished his way to the end of the street, clearing out the larger grimm and directing the few straggling survivors towards the safe zones. Overall, it was a complete success.

"Help!"

Or…not.

With a small huff, he turned and surveyed the street. He had missed a spot, where had he missed a spot? There was an empty road, most of the shop windows were intact, no other grimm were showing their face, where was- Qrow's gaze drifted up.

The roof tops. Taking off at a sprint, Qrow rolled his scythe into the ground in front of him, pushing him up the building to get a decent handhold. Using his momentum, he continued up the building, using the window seals as handholds to help him gain more traction.

The girl on the rooftop screamed as the beowolf dived for her, only for a jagged scythe to snake around its neck and pull back.

He may not have been as fast as his niece, but he could move when he needed to.

"You okay?" he asked to the obviously terrified and not okay woman, "There's an evacuation area set up in the park nearby... that way." He said, gesturing vaguely to the left, "Get to there and a Bullhead will take you to the safe zone.

Not waiting for an answer, he moved away and walked towards the edge of the building, his eyes scanning the other buildings in the distance. He needed to move fast, the longer he was not killing the grimm the longer they had to spread out and move further into the city.

Where would he be needed next…?

A deep echoing roar reverberated around the city interrupted his thoughts as he turned to pin down the source of the new sound. Whatever made that sound was big and new. Qrow hated new things that were also big. They tended to have the issue of being grimm.

Qrow stopped and listened, trying to categorize what kind of grimm could have made that sound. The Grimm dragon has a higher screech and there's no way a Squid could get this far inland…maybe a…

His thoughts died as he spied the source. A bright glow lighting up the sky in the distance.

It was a dragon. Not a grimm dragon. Not a Dragon class airship. An actual dragon. With scales, fangs, and fire! And…and it just tackled the grimm dragon midair.

Qrow watched with an open mouth as the two monsters collided and fell, their momentum carrying the two across the campus of beacon and out of sight. The dragon had its jaw firmly locked into the joint of the Grimm's wing, blowing a steady stream of fire onto it, black putrid blood smearing it's golden scales as it vanished behind one of beacons buildings. The echoing thud across the bay spoke volumes to the amount of force that went into the impact the two titans made.

Qrow sighed and let a hand lightly massaged his forehead. A Dragon. When Ozpin had first asked him about his opinion on Fairy Tales, he had expected it to be another clever segway to a debriefing, not a multiple-choice answer with Fairy Tale books being considered historic events.

With a sigh, he straightened up, and jumped off the building, enjoying the rushing air against his face before landing and heading off to where he last saw Glinda and Ironwood. They needed to consolidate and act fast. Before anything else impossible happened.

* * *

Professor Peter Port looked out with a stunned look, Professor Bartholomew Oobleck silent beside him. There was a dragon fight happening in front of them. A massive grimm monstrosity on one side, giant red eyes, and elongated head with too many teeth, that was dripping with a dense substance that seemed to spawn grimm. On the other side, **their side apparently** , a golden dragon, ripped straight from the storybook pages as it let out a jet of fire to impact the grimms side. After crashing the ground, the two had immediately continued their fight, biting, and clawing at each other, tearing through walls and roads and other fights as they remained unaware of their surroundings, their focus solely on each other.

Professor Port stayed silent for a moment as the two tightens moved out of sight the sound of the fight still clearly audible before licking his lips slightly and opening his mouth.

"… Bartholomew?"

"Yes Peter?"

"That's… a dragon."

"Yes Peter."

The two remained silent as students piled into the Bullheads behind them, some of them constantly looking back as though unable to comprehend what they had just seen crash into their library.

"I've never fought alongside a Dragon before."

"Yes Peter."

"And most students and civilians have already been evacuated… and we have the third and fourth years here helping maintain a safe perimeter."

"That's true Peter."

"A-and we can't say for certain if that dragon is friendly to humans…why it might turn on us once that grimm is dealt with…"

"That is a possibility Peter."

"Exactly, and…well… I don't necessarily Have to be here…"

Silence fell once again as the two continued to stare out at their school, the place they had both called home for several years.

"…"

"I'm just saying that maybe another gun would be the thing needed to...well… 'tip the scales' so to speak."

"…"

A-and you're doing a fine job here as w- "

"Okay."

Professor Port turned to his college, blinking rapidly as he stared at Oobleck's wry smile. A small grin began to grow on his face.

"… R-really?"

"You can go fight the Grimm Dragon."

The two men stood silent for one more moment, before Professor Port hefted his battle axe hybrid and let out a battle cry as he began to run towards where they had last saw the two titans. Oobleck watched him go with an impassive expression, not blinking until the Professor was out of sight.

"He'll be fine." He said to one of the unconscious students that was laid out to be transported next. The student groaned and shifted uneasily in their unconsciousness. "He hasn't had a chance to fight like this in years."

…

"It'll be good for him."

The student didn't reply.

* * *

"GET AWAY FROM HER **, NOW** " Yang shrieked, flames shooting up around her body as bent her legs prepared to charge at the man standing over Blake, blade sunk into her partner's side. This was wrong. Everything was wrong. Grimm and white fang were in Beacon, Penny was a robot that Pyrrha destroyed who was now dead and it was all wrong.

And when things went wrong, Yang would punch things back until they were right.

A blade piercing her downed partner was wrong.

Yang would make it right by destroying the blade and the man that was holding onto it.

She pushed off, using Ember Celia to add to her momentum as she shot forward, prepared to save her best friend and partner. She could see every detail of White Fang member as he turned to face her. He brilliant red hair, flashing in the fire light. His crimson blade, dripping with blood. **Blake's blood!** His white fang mask, so much more detailed and larger than a normal white fang member, the fragments being broken off as the scaly wall impacted hi-what?

Yang only had time to widen her eyes before the wall of scales impacted her as well and sent the two rolling with the wall of scales as it slammed them first through some tables and carried them forward towards the opposite wall, slamming them into the plaster and brick and then through it.

Blake stared dumbfounded. One moment, Yang was recklessly charging towards Adam. Almost surely about to lose her life. The next moment, an average of scales, scales, claws, fangs, crashed through the building, moving over her, collapsing the walls, the roof and most of the remaining tables as it carried through the cafeteria. By the time the dust had settled, Yang and Adam were gone. Along with most of the room.

What had just happened?

"Y-yang?" Blake pushed herself up, wincing at her injury. She was running off fear and adrenalin, when it finally wore off she probably wouldn't be able to stand. She needed to find Yang before then.

"Yang!" she called out stronger, stumbling forward through the wreckage, eyes darting around for any sign of blond hair.

There was hardly any evidence that the area she was in had been a building, rubble was strewn everywhere, shattered wood and stone piles littered here or there.

She strained her ears, trying to hear past the sounds of combat and the crackling flames of the fire. She couldn't be… she had to be here! A quite small groan rewired her efforts. Blake ran as fast as she could, a light jog as she tried not to aggravate her wound. She found Yang at the end of where the building used to be, covered the rubble that used to be the roof, only some of her hair sticking out.

Blake quickly knelt, using her bloodied hands to shift through the rubble. "Yang? Come on Yang, stay with me."

Yang didn't look good as Blake slowly dug her out, large angry bruises swelling to cover her body. Her aura must have prevented anything from puncturing her skin, instead settling for very painful and rapidly inflating bruises that seemed to coat her entire body. It was the most injured Blake had seen on her partner. And that was with aura!

Blake shuddered to think what would have been left of Yang if she had been without Aura…

"…ow…"

Blake relaxed slightly, reaching down to pull her partner from the wreckage. "Come on…" Blake made out, gasping slightly from her own wound, "Let's get out of here…" Supporting Yang's weight, the two hunters in training made their way out of the Cafeteria and towards the general direction of the courtyard.

As they began to set off, Blake's gazed around the rubble warily, if Yang was carried this far then Adam might have also been arrived around h- Her thoughts trailed off as she stopped, her mind struggling to take in the situation that her eyes had settled on.

.

Deep gouges in the earth piling up the accumulated rubble on either size as the massive hide of the giant grimm dragon. Black smoky miasma floating up as it slowly began to dissipate. Crawling on top of it, a decidedly not grimm dragon pulled itself up, breathing heavily as a nasty would several feet long along its long neck pumped hot silver blood, steam trailing from the drops that fell to the ground. And in between the large claws of the Golden dragon were her Grimm Studies professor, wrestling his axe out of the grimms hide.

"Haha!" Professor Port laughed maniacally, pulling his weapon free, "That… that was the most fun I've had in years!"

Blake opened her mouth, intent on responding but not quite finding the words she wanted to say. What exactly were you suppose to say to seeing your boastful professor seemingly live one of his tall tales?

"Miss Belladonna! "Professor Port suddenly yelled out, quickly navigating his way down the grimm's corpse to approach the injured faunus and unconscious girl, "What happened to you both? And how is Miss Xiao Long?"

The dragon watched him go, a slightly guarded gaze going slack as it too began to move off the remains of the grimm, it's claws digging into the pavement as it stepped off.

"Alive." Blake replied breathlessly, eager to take the distraction over the apparent large mythical creature that had teamed up with her teacher, "She got hit by the…when the building was destroyed and was carried with the rubble when the roof collapsed, but she's still alive."

"Capital," Professor Port said, moving to Yang's left side to better support her, "We have bullheads evacuating the injured to a hospital in Vale, I'll escort you two there!"

"But what about the- "Blake began to protest, only to have her words silenced as a large gust of wind nearly knocked her over, forcing the Professor to support both Yang and Blake. The student and professor glanced over their shoulders to eye the source of the wind, the golden wings now lifting the dragon out of the wreckage and back into the sky above Beacon.

"And I was going to come back to finish it off…" Muttered the portly Professor, small chunks of plaster falling from his mustache, "Only if it were necessary," added Peter upon misinterpreting Blake's incredulous expression, "We don't know if it's friend or foe. A mindless beast or some cunning ancient soul. Regardless, such a dangerous creature should be treated with caution."

Blake would have replied but kept quite due to the pulsing ache of her wound, focusing instead on keeping Yang upright and to keep her own body moving forward before she collapse face first into the pavement.

"So, tell me my dear, do you think there is a different between the titles 'Slayer of Dragons and Grimm' and 'Slayer of the Grimm Dragon'?"

…Or before Professor Port forced her to respond.

* * *

 _Okay… Spawner down… check but with some good bruises and cuts... Not yet attacked by hunters. Check unless you count the piggy back ride I gave to Port. Grimm and White Fang defeated, allowing me to sneak off and change back…well… Helping them fight the grimm couldn't "hurt" the dragon's reputation in Vale… And I'm sure they won't have questions as to where the dragon came from or why it helped them… yeah… 'check'_

…

 _This is a mess…_

* * *

 **AN:**


	2. Kill it with Fire!

**AN: Back at you all with next chapter! And I've revised and edited Chapter One. No more Violet/Velvet mix-ups.**

 **Edited and Beta'd by Cruzerblade**

* * *

 **Chapter 2- It has the Children! Kill it! Kill it with Fire!**

* * *

Accounts of the dragon's actions in the aftermath of the battle were varied. Some would tell of grimm advancing on their position only for a large fireball to rain from the sky and decimate the oncoming horde. Others spoke of how the beast would land and stalk its way through a crowded area, stepping on and snapping at any grimm that came near. A third group claimed that it dug them out of collapsed buildings and escorted them to the safe zones. One thing was clear the dragon was killing grimm and helping civilians. It'd tank several hard hits to protect civilians and made sure they were safe before attacking. Anyone who had seem the dragon that night agreed that, whatever its reasons, it was on Vale's side.

Of course, Nora and Pyrrha didn't know any of this when they ran outside. The girls stopped in their tracks, they had to take a second to gawk at the sight. Beacon and Vale was a complete mess, with collapsed buildings, rampant fires, and the evidence of intense combat. Robot parts and…bodies littered the campus grounds like some sort of gory confetti. It was horrible, they had never seen anything so brutal. And in the distance, flying over the city itself, a massive golden dragon, fire from its maw raining down.

Nora shakily looked over at Pyrrha. Only to find that her eyes were locked onto the dragon letting out another stream of fire from its maw. If she had the Fall Maiden's powers she might have been able to do something about th-

"We need to find Ren and Jaune then tell one of the professors about Ozpin," Nora said, her voice snapping her out of her daze.

Pyrrha nodded and continued moving forward, trying to distract herself from the dragon's rampage. Her eyes trailing over the damage done to her school.

Nora was wandering through the courtyard, gazing at the bullet holes and craters that littered the area around them. There was so much… She pulled out her scroll and dialed her best friend. The teams must have been fighting there for quite some time before moving on. Hopefully it was to fight more grimm rather than being forced to retreat.

Pyrrha followed Nora's lead and took out her scroll as well. She paused as she stared at her reflection on its screen. _She_ was the one who was supposed to receive the fall Maiden's power and protect everyone. It was her destiny and she had failed. Everyone who got hurt tonight… it was because she hesitated. She snapped out of her musing when Nora frantically waved her over, Ren finally answering her call as she began to speak rapidly.

"Ren? Ren! Oh, thank goodness! We're outside the tower, Ozpin wanted…Something from Pyrrha but it didn't work. He's fighting some women right now! Get Jaune a-and we ca- "

The sound of molten metal bending and breaking interrupted her. the two girls turned to see a flash of orange and red blur ascending to the top of Beacon's tower, leaving behind a destroyed elevator rapidly cooling from the sudden heat.

"But…Ozpin…" Nora trailed off.

As Nora fought to regain her composure, Pyrrha's gaze couldn't tear itself from the sight of the busted metal. That was the power that Ozpin wanted her to have… For her to save Beacon, to save Vale from the encroaching grimm invasion. The power that now gave the enemy a huge advantage over every huntsman in Vale. The power that was supposed to be hers! She had to do something! She was going to take the fight to the enemy and claim her destiny. She had no other choice. It was her power.

She couldn't stand by and let it end here. She needed to get that power back.

She turned to Nora, speaking quickly as the orange haired girl stood there slack, "Listen, Nora, I'm going after her, I'm going to buy some time. I need you to find Jaune and Ren, make sure they're safe, then send any of the professors you can find after me."

For a moment, Nora didn't respond, still flabbergasted by the destruction Cinder caused.

"Nora!"

Finally, Nora reacted, her shocked eyes darted to Pyrrha's face, quick taking on a steely glint as she stepped forward, "Oh no no no! That woman beat Ozpin in less than ten minutes and you're just a student! It'd be suicide!"

"Even so," Pyrrha replied evenly matching Nora's gaze, "I have the best chance to stall for time and stop her from…doing whatever she has planned. You can go get the professors and make sure our partners are safe."

"But..." Nora trailed of, trying to think a way to convince Pyrrha change her mind, "You'd be alone! No back up! That's why I'm here! backup!" she finished, crossing her arms.

"I'll be fine. I'm the invincible girl after all." Pyrrha said giving a weak smile, "When have you known me to lose?"

Before she could reply, Pyrrha gave Nora a tight hug, before turning to run back into the building.

Nora watched her go, the helpless expression of her face hardened into one more determined. _"Fine. If Pyrrha wanted her to meet up and fight with Ren and Jaune, then she would. AND THEN BRING THEM RIGHT BACK TO SAVE HER BUTT!"_

She pulled up her scroll, talking into it with a determined look on her face, "Ren, tell any professors that you can see to get to the tower. Ozpin's orders. Pyrrha's gone to fight the woman that _beat_ Ozpin! Where are you and Jaune? I'll head your way."

Nora listened to Ren with an intent expression, her eyebrows slowly rising as her eye's darted to the golden dragon that dominated the skies. She remained silent long after Ren stopped speaking.

"... And you swear on breakfast that you're not lying?" She asked, quietly, her gaze still locked on the dragon that begun to drift over Beacon once again.

"O-okay..." she replied eventually, "You… You tell the professors and come with them and I'll let Jaune know."

Ren started speaking again.

"Oh, relax Renny!" Nora replied easily as she started to walk forward, "I have a plan," Nora stopped walking, eyeing the Rocket Locker wedged into the ground in front of her.

* * *

 _Okay… Vale's cleared for the most part, though I wish I could have followed that White Fang into the gym… Maybe I should help the forces in Beacon? They should be relatively safe now that the spawner is down…They probably have enough people here to help secure the area and I've drawn most of the nevermore away from campus. Maybe I can-_

 _THUNK_

 _What! Did I hit another nevermore? Man, that's going to be a pain to clean o-_ _ **Nora?!**_

* * *

"Ouch..." Muttered Nora as she used her hammer to prop herself up on the constantly moving scaly surface beneath her feet. Using the locker to shoot her towards the large dragon had been an exhilarating experience. It was incredibly fun and easier than an Ursa, killing her momentum and sticking a landing onto it's back had been…a less fun experience. She needed to work on a better landing strategy.

She shakily stood up on the back of the dragon, absently noting the amount of room she had on the thing, it was a lot bigger up close. Way bigger, she told herself as she looked up and found herself face to face with one of its eyes as its massive head turned towards her.

Sweet Pancakes… Its head was bigger than most rooms she had been in! It had looked large from far away, but now that she on the beast, it was utterly gargantuan! _"And Ren thought that this was Jaune_?

"J-jaune?" she asked hesitantly, gazing into the yoga ball sized eye staring back at her.

She felt the dragon tremor, a muscle spasm that trailed across it's back, causing Nora to fall to her knees with a yelp. The moment she fell, the spasms stopped, a stillness coming over the dragon's movements that hadn't been there before. It allowed her to gain a better purchase on the scales and stand back up as it glided across the night sky.

She looked up again, and to Nora, it looked almost like the Dragon looked embarrassed by its movements. To anyone else it looked like the dragon had blinked.

But for Nora, that was all she needed to continue with her original plan. At the very least, it was polite enough to let her stand back up.

"Jaune! Pyrrha has gone after a woman who defeated Ozpin! She has some fire power stuff and Pyrrha needs help! They're at the top of the tower!" Nora shouted out, attempting to make her voice heard over the wind.

There was silence for a moment, as the wind whipped across the dragon's hide and into her face as she wondered briefly if she would have to repeat herself. Or… if it understood her at all…?

Then the dragon's wings dipped, and the massive reptile began angling itself towards the top of the tower.

Nora yelped as the shift brought her down onto her hands and knees, grabbing onto to the scaly surface as she tried not to fall off.

The dragon let out a monstrous roar that reverberated through Nora's body making her teeth rattle. She began to giggle quietly as she felt them diving through the air. She was riding a dragon! A giant dragon that was her friend! She was riding her friend dragon into battle! This was amazing!

Or at least… she quieted down as a small frown flicked across her face. She hoped this was Jaune and that she hadn't accidentally directed a large bloodthirsty dragon towards Pyrrha.

And if it was Jaune then he had a lot of explaining to do! Friends don't keep secrets this cool from each other!

* * *

Pyrrha cried out in pain as her aura shattered as she impacted a stone pillar. This wasn't going well. She had barely lasted _ten minutes_ and that was only because the woman was toying with her, testing her new powers with a childish glee. Pyrrha had been put on the defensive for the entire time.

" _Some invincible girl I was"_ she thought bitterly as she forced her eyes open to look at the woman who was walking leisurely towards her. The woman that had killed Ozpin.

She gritted her teeth and pushed herself pushed herself to her feet. She reached for her semblance to see if she could bend her armor so it wasn't digging into her already cracked ribs. She had to keep fighting. There was no other option! If she turned back here, then she would have lost.

And Pyrrha Nikos did _not_ lose.

She reached, trying to dip into her low aura reserves and put her back into some kind of fighting state.

Nothing.

Pyrrha's eyes widened. She was out of aura completely. She had no protection against the new fall maiden. Any other injuries would put her out of the fight.

Permanently.

Realistically speaking she probably had twenty seconds left of adrenalin before the exhaustion of the day caught up with her. Without aura, she might as well have been a civilian.

A huntress without aura was a dead huntress.

Pyrrha threw her shield at the woman before immediately turning with the intent of running away. The Elevator was broken but maybe there was an emergency staircase she could get to-

Her foot erupted in pain.

"Ah!" Pain. Sharp, hot, pain shot up her leg, stopping her in her tracks. She turned her head and glared at the ugly black arrow that stuck out of her heel with a mixture of anger and fear. It had outright torn her achilles tendon. She wouldn't be running anytime soon. Not to fight or to run.

A Hunter who can't move is a hunter waiting to die.

She had lost.

"It's unfortunate you were promised a power that was never truly yours," The woman said, walking over, and grasping her chin, forcing Pyrrha to look her in the eye, "But take comfort in knowing that I will use it in ways you could never imagine."

She pulled herself up, trying to straighten, despite the pain in her chest closing her eyes briefly. She was dead. She was going to die. There was no other way this could have ended. _"I'm sorry Nora, Jaune, Ren, Ozpin…everyone… I wasn't strong enough... I failed"_

And if she wasn't strong enough. Then who was?

A bumbling swordsman danced across her mind's eye for a second closely followed by a hammer wielding maniac and a quiet monk. His goofy grin quickly joined by a bubbly giggle and a quiet sigh of affectionate exasperation. Memories of her first year at Beacon swirling in her mind, the bonds she had formed. Her team. Her friends. She would never see them again.

But… she wouldn't have to.

"Do you believe in destiny?" Pyrrha asked quietly, opening her eyes to look up at the woman. She knew who was strong enough to stand against Cinder. It'd take a while, but her friends would kill her. They'd save Vale for her. They had to. She refused to believe otherwise.

The woman's eyes narrowed as she stepped back, raising her arms to summon her bow.

And then a dragon fell on them.

Large long claws dug into the rubble and the fallen gears. Golden scales shrouded both fighters in shadows. And a large head snaked down to hover above the two. A low guttered rumbling echoing from the creature's chest.

The woman cursed and backed away, moving towards the edge of the tower out from directly under the dragon. Pyrrha remained frozen on her knees, her eyes locked on the dragon's head. Teeth longer and thicker than her weapon, and smoky breath filling the air around her. And sitting on its head above two piercing sapphire eyes…was Nora.

Pyrrha blinked.

Nora waved.

Ruby asked, "Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha blinked again. "Ruby?"

The woman summoned her bow.

And Pyrrha's world was filled with fire.

* * *

 _Pyrrha!_

* * *

 _Earlier_

Weiss stared out at the large beast moving across the waters shivering slightly as it moved closer towards her. For the last hour, she'd watch its golden form diving to the streets before returning to the skies with large grimm held in its claws. From what she could see was all it had been doing was flying around Vale and killing grimm. She had seen Ursai, King Taijitu, Goliaths and various other grimm get picked up and crushed in the large claws.

Creatures of darkness and hatred that would be enough to take out entire towns...destroyed like small pests that only irritated it. So quick…so easily…It was…frightening. Terrifying even. She had never seen anything so strong. And Ren claimed it was supposed to be Jau-

No. It couldn't be. Impossible. Ren had to be wrong…delusional maybe…

"Weiss! I found you!"

She spun around and let out a breath of relief as she saw her partner running towards her.

"Ruby! Thank goodness, you're all right!" Weiss hugged the younger girl, taking the moment to check her over for injuries, it felt like she had been separated from her team for a lifetime, "Where have you- "

"Don't worry! I'm fine." Ruby interrupted, checking Weiss over for any injuries as well, "What's going on?"

What was going on? Weiss choked down a hysterical chuckle shaking her head. Where did she begin?

"Weiss? What is it?" asked Ruby, her voice thick with worry. What had happened to push the heiress to this state?

Instead of replying, Weiss simply stepped to the side revealing the collection of injured and unconscious that made up their classmates. Scattered across the boarding platform gathered small clusters of the different teams, some with all four team members accounted for, some missing one or two people. Other's had it worse, all accounted for but with heavy injuries that still needed to be treated. Ruby stared in horror as one boy desperately slapped bandages onto a large gash on an unconscious girl's forehead, his other teammates all passed out from various injuries in front of him.

And right by their feet, how had she not noticed? Laying in a small huddle…

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Yang was nearly unrecognizable with every inch of her body swollen and darkly bruised, bandages applied where the damage had broken the skin. Next to her, an injured Blake, a white bandage marred by a large red stain as she lied close to Yang's side, whispering apologies to the unconscious girl.

With a gasp, Ruby rushed to her sister's side, kneeling to inspect the bloody bandages.

"Yang…" she began only to trail of, a heavy lump in her throat.

Sun walked over to the group a grim expression sitting heavy on his face, "Hey she's gonna be okay. There's a ship running all the injured to the safe zone in Vale."

"We can't leave without them." A voice popped up from behind Ruby, causing her to turn.

Beside the two, sat Ren sat, covered in various bruises and cuts, his arms snaked around his knees and in his hands, was his scroll gripped tightly. Wrapped tightly around the boy's forehead was a bandage, a trickle of blood escaping it to trail down the side of his face. Ruby stared blankly at his face for a moment before Ren's words sank in. Where was the rest of Team JNPR?

"Nora and Pyrrha are still missing. And Jaune…"

At the boy's name, Sun and Weiss fell silent, glancing away.

"What?" Ruby asked, a dark feeling settling in her stomach, "What about Jaune? Where is he?"

She spun wildly to look at Weiss, but it was Sun who attempted to answer.

"Ruby…so… y-you know that large yellow d-dragon that's been flying around?"

"No… No, you can't be saying…?" Ruby asked in disbelief, her eyes stinging as she slowly backed away from him.

"He's not dead." Ren spoke up, his eyes coming into focus, "He's not."

"I know buddy," Sun said, crouching down to rest a hand on Ren's shoulder, "We all believe you."

"The professors don't" Ren replied, swaying slightly as he turned his head to look at Sun "they all think I got a concussion from when I took the hit for Weiss."

"But you didn't. We were all there with you. We all saw J-jaune. So, relax, all right?" Sun spoke softly.

And Ruby recoiled at his expression. It was… off. She couldn't place what was wrong about it, but it made the dark feeling in her stomach worse.

A cheerful ringtone cut through the quiet moment, making Blake flinch, and beadily glance around before returning her attention to her unconscious partner. Ren thrusted his scroll to his face, shakily opening it to accept the call.

"Nora! Nora? Oh, thank goodness! Are you safe? Is Pyrrha still with you? Nor-" Ren desperately shouted into the small screen, his eyes locked onto the small display featuring his partner. Ruby cringed and took a step back, put off by the near hysterical tone Ren was using. He was normally so quiet, so composed. Like...he had been drinking milk for a long time. For him to sound like this…

What had happened with Jaune?

Ruby couldn't take it, she backed away slowly, drawing curious gazes from Weiss and Sun. Ren She couldn't understand.

"I…I'm going to find them," she squeaked out, unwilling to consider the horrible conclusion that her mind had led her to. For Ren to be so...un-Ren. For Weiss and Sun to act so weird around the boy's name. There was only one option. Ruby's first friend at beacon. Dead. **No**. "I'm going to find them and bring them back, no one else is going to die" She glanced down at Ren recoiled at his next words.

"Nora? What's happening! Nora!"

They were fine, Ruby told herself, Jaune, Nora and Pyrrha were **fine.**

Sun stood up and took a step forward, "Now Ruby… Let's not jump to an-"

Ruby couldn't hear anymore. Jaune couldn't be dead. He just couldn't. But it's how everyone was acting. Not waiting for Sun to finish, she ran off towards the base of Beacon tower. Using her semblance to shoot forward, leaving the others behind. Jaune couldn't be dead. He probably ran off to rescue Nora and Pyrrha first. He'll be with them and they'd all come back.

Together.

* * *

One beowolf and five griffons later and Ruby was really wishing that she had asked where they were before she ran off. Or maybe see if Nora's call could have given her an idea of where they were. The best she could do now was clear out the leftover grimm and hope that they spotted her before they got overrun.

"Okay… Four more clips and then It'll have to be close combat…"

Or at least until she got overrun. Though that didn't seem to be much of a problem. The hoard of grimm seemed to have thinned out considerably since the battle had first started. The skies were no longer filled with grimm and those that she encountered were sluggish and slow moving, the long battle had worn them out as well. She swung Crescent Rose in a wide arc, giving herself some room before charging at the approaching griffons.

Before they were encased in a spray of ice.

"You are an absolute dunce!" Gasped Weiss, the last of her ice dust spent. The Schnee was breathing heavily, she wasn't conditioned to running long distances, much less to catch up with her team leader. Lifting her head, she fixed Ruby with a glare.

"Pyrrha went up to the top of the tower and Nora went to bring help to her. You would have known if you had _stayed and listened_. Before running off. "

"B-but Jaune," gasped out Ruby, her chest tight, her eyes fixed on the top of the tower where she could see flashes of…something taking place, "I just can't believe h- "

"He's not dead." Ruby tore her eyes from the tower to stare at Weiss. The Heiress looked deadpanned back at the girl. "He's not dead." Weiss repeated. "It's…we'll I don't really know what it is, but we know he's not dead."

Ruby's relieved response was cut off as a shadow passed overhead, drawing the two girls attention upward. The dragon had returned, flying over the campus in a lazy circle before abruptly changing course.

"He's heading towards the tower." Weiss muttered, glaring up at the titanic reptile. "It'd take us too long to climb and join them…"

Ruby shot away another griffon, switching out her clip again. Think Ruby think! She bit her lip in thought, _you have two friends up top with a dangerous woman and now a dragon heading in towards them… what can you…_

Her thoughts trailed off as she spotted a trail of white glyphs materializing up alongside the tower.

"Go," said Weiss, a bitter smile on her face, "Tell Nora and Pyrrha I said hello. And make sure you all come back in one piece."

Ruby stood there for a second, unsure what to say, "Weiss…" she started. In only a few minutes she had put Ruby's fears to rest and had cleared a direct path to the rest of her friends. She had the best partner ever!

Weiss rolled her eyes and barked at Ruby, "Get going! I can't keep this up all night!"

Ruby's mouth clicked shut and she nodded before moving forward. Right, staying focused. Gotta save friends and make sure they're all safe before you can hug them. Ruby activated her semblance to give her as much momentum as possible thrusting her forward. Jumping up, Ruby made sure to step on Weiss's glyphs to add even more speed as she began to run up the wall.

However, as she climbed a thought nagged at her…something that Weiss said…

How did she know the dragon was male? She swatted the thought away, pushing it to the back of her mind. She needed to focus. Her friends were counting on her. Never mind that Weiss didn't exactly explain what happened to Jaune or why everyone had been acting so off.

No. Stop Ruby. Focus.

* * *

It seemed like no time at all before Ruby reached the top of the tower, the dragon landing just as she landed onto the damaged surface. She wobbled slightly as the structure creaked and groaned under the weight of the monster. How big exactly was that dragon? And how was she supposed to kill it? With the last of the glyphs fading out, Ruby looked up to try and get a good look of the situation. Pyrrha and Nora were supposed to be up here... The sight that greeted her was…unique.

" _I can't kill that."_ She thought as her eyes traveled over the scene.

A giant golden dragon, emanating heat was bearing down on the tower, it's sapphire eyes glaring at a woman in a red dress who was slowly backing away from the beast. Between the two, knelt before the dragon with a small puddle of blood in front of her was…

"Pyrrha?"

As though her words were a starting gun, both the dragon and woman acted, one reared back as flames spilled from its maw like a tsunami of fire, while the other formed a bow and prepared to fire an arrow. Pyrrha was right in the middle of them staring at Ruby with a dumbfounded expression.

"Ruby?"

Ruby moved, acting only on instinct.

Activating her semblance, she flew out and tackled Pyrrha to the other side of the tower. Turning to try and cushion the taller girl's fall as they hit the pavement roughly. Behind them, a wave of golden flames spread out, fully enveloping the woman in red. She let the arrow fly into the cloud of flames and let out an angry cry as her body was enveloped in flames.

Ruby winced as she felt the heat wash over her, immediately warming parts of her body that had gone numb during her run up the tower. The heat was insane. It threw the entire tower into bright light and long shadows. Squinting through the harsh light, Ruby looked down at Pyrrha. She seemed to be okay for the most part, with just a bloodied torn ankle. Ruby winced, a gaping wound like that meant that either the arrow was poisoned or, more seriously, Pyrrha was out of aura.

If it was poisoned, the situation was serious but manageable. She would just need to get Pyrrha to the hospital before the poison sapped away her aura and then moved onto her actual help. But if her aura was out…

Whiplash, recoil, and impact force, all the things that would normally be negated by aura would be a threat to Pyrrha's life. She'd be a civilian in a combat zone without an evacuation plan. But first things first Ruby had to make sure she could move before she could do anything else.

"Pyrrha! Are you okay? Can you stand?"

The spartan girl looked around, dazed from the sudden tackle.

"Wha-Nora?"

"No, it's Ruby! Listen… I… I'm going to get you down first okay? D-Do you know where Nora and Jaune are?"

Pyrrha unfocused gaze stared at Ruby's face, wincing slightly at the sudden bright light coming from the other side of the tower.

"Nora?"

Ruby frowned as she moved her arm to try and support the much heavier huntress. Pyrrha probably had a concussion. She would have only had a concussion if she had been out of aura. Getting her off this tower just got much harder.

"Ruby!"

Ruby's head whipped up shifting her attention from her injured friend to the rest of the tower. The dragon's mouth still hadn't let up its stream of fire and she gazed around in the sudden bright light. The broken gears and rubble being thrown into stark contrasting shadows. That was Nora's voice! But where was…

"Ruby, up here!"

Her eyes snapped to the top of the dragon, where she spotted Nora, walking comfortably on the dragon's wide back. Seemingly paying no attention to the dragon's constant fire that had still yet to let up. Just how much fire was in that beast?

Ruby's jaw dropped as she watched her friend navigate herself off the Dragon and ran over to them. Nora crouched down and took Pyrrha from Ruby's hands and readjusted her grip to better support the barely conscious girl.

"Nora… how…?"

"Cool right!" The girl laughed, a wild look in her eyes as they reflected the firelight, "I was surprised too but once Ren assured me he wasn't lying I thought it was so cool!"

Ruby... didn't know quite what to think. And it had appeared that Pyrrha had decided to pass out.

"When I found out, I couldn't believe that Ren was right!" Nora continued as she turned back to stare back at the dragon, "He's been holding out on us!"

Ruby was thoroughly confused, the dragon belonged to Ren? Ren had a dragon? Ren was a dragon rider?

"Nora…" Ruby started, her thoughts slowly trying to come together and failing, "Can we ride the dragon off the tower?"

Nora nodded cheerfully and slowly stood up, slinging on of Pyrrha's arms over her shoulder. Grinning as Ruby stood up to support her other side, Nora beamed at her "Of course! I'm pretty sure that was his plan from the beginning!"

Ruby felt a small headache begin to grow, "You're going to have to walk me through this one," she said as they walked Pyrrha over to the side of the dragon and Nora climbed up onto the dragon's wing, "Exactly when did Ren get a dragon?"

"What are you talking about Ruby? Ren didn't get a dragon," Nora said, giving a raised eyebrow as she slowly edged Pyrrha's unconscious body up the wing, "I think I would know if Ren got a dragon."

Ruby blinked as she followed Nora onto the dragon's back, all the while making sure Pyrrha didn't slide off. It was a largely pointless task, the sheer width of its body providing a flat surface with decent traction. She flinched slightly as they moved further towards the main body of the colossal dragon, feeling a low vibration from the dragon's body.

"But… this dragon…?"

"Oh!" Nora said, making sure Pyrrha was secure "This isn't Ren's dragon! I'm pretty sure that would-be slavery!"

Ruby looked at the dragon itself and long winding body she and Nora were both comfortably standing on.

"But then- "

"I mean, I don't think Jaune belongs to Ren. I didn't really get a chance to ask. Oh my gosh! Do you think they're dating? Oh! A Dragon Lover! How mysterious! How romantic! How- Ruby are you okay?"

Ruby was gaping like a fish, her eyes bulging as they traced the full body of the dragon that she stood on top of. From its massive head, all the way down to its tail. The thing that was closer in size to buildings than it was to any living creature Ruby knew of.

Dragon. Giant massive fire breathing dragon was Jaune? _**What!**_ Dragon? What? Jaune?

"T-this d-dragon is Jaune?"

Just…

 _What?_

* * *

Cinder was on fire. She had been on fire earlier but that had been more metaphorical and mainly due to her joy at finally obtaining the Fall Maiden's power. Now she was fighting literal fire that washed over her, trapping her in place.

Growling and pushing her aura as much it would allow, Cinder could barely maintain a field of aura to protect herself from the near constant stream of fire that was engulfing her. This was insane. She was told she would have a giant grimm dragon to back her up and help her destroy Beacon. Not that she would have to fight an actual dragon. She didn't know they were even real! " _where the hell did this thing even come from?"_

Everything had been going so well! She had killed the fool Ozpin, secured the fall maiden's powers and Roman had provided the hole to allow the grimm and the White Fang to fully invade. Nowhere in any briefing or report was there signs of a dragon ever mentioned! What was it doing here?

Where had it been? What? Why? How?

As she felt her clothes start to smolder, Cinder gritted her teeth and redoubled her focus on using her newly gained powers. The questions could wait. Right now, she needed to focus on surviving this mess. And oh, was it a mess... The White Fang and grimm could only do so much. While it would be more than adequate to handle any number of hunters or Atlas reinforcements, nothing could stand against this. How would they even plan to fight a creature like this? No, this monstrosity would need to be dealt with first before any other plan could be carried out.

Everything else had to be put on hold until this creature was no longer an issue. She needed to escape and regroup. Ask for backup and then prepare a counter attack. But first… she needed to get out of these flames.

The second her mind wandered towards ways to escape from the situation, the flames stopped. Finding herself bracing at nothing she tipped forward and face planted into the cracked tile. There was a rumbling as she pushed herself off the floor, eyes darting to stay locked on the…

The…

Fleeing dragon...

Oh, come on!

Still smoking, Cinder glared out at the rapidly retreating form of the dragon, three small figures visible on its golden scales. They were escaping! That… that beast had destroyed her grimm and had the power to stand up to her! And it was retreating?

Slowly her glare faded and she smirked slightly, that was a mistake. This creature could go toe to toe with her, with the maiden powers! It couldn't be allowed to live. To let it go free now and have it fight with the Huntsmen… she had seen the intelligence in its eyes. It would be the unraveling of all Salem's plans. It needed to die here. And the foolish beast had just given her the perfect opportunity. She raised her hands, a bow formed within them, her fingers wrapped the cool black material. She breathed out once and closed her eyes, she concentrated as she poured her power into it.

For a moment, the bow did nothing before it began to glow steadily as she poured increasingly more power into it. Cinder gritted her teeth as the bow began to burn her skin. Pulsing a dark red, the arrow formed, a black spiral tip that that had small flames shooting off it. Even she, with her new heat resistance as the fall maiden pulled back to try and gain a little distance from the blistering heat.

"More. It needs to be more," she hissed, as she held on. The bow and arrow didn't reply as they continued to soak in power from Cinder, switching colors from a deep red to a brilliant white. "Kill it, maim hit, throw it from the skies and show to the world that nothing can save them now!"

Finally, it was too much for her, she opened her eyes as she used the last trickles of her strength to aim the bow and let the arrow fly, scorching flames trailing off the arrow as it left the tower. Utterly exhausted and with most of her aura now in the arrow instead of her, she fell backwards, hitting the ruble with a painful slam.

"Nothing can save them," she breathed to the night sky. "Not even a dragon."

The pained roar that followed was like music to Cinder's ears.

* * *

Mercury stared in awe as a brilliant glow gathered on top of Beacons tower, shining brighter and brighter. The light lit up the campus, highlighting the destruction of the day's battle, and hovering above it all, thrown into stark contrast by the light, was the shadow of the golden dragon, gliding away from the campus and across the water towards Vale. He just couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe a lot of things that had happened that night. When the golden dragon had made its first appearance, Mercury had continued to film, uncertain as to what else to do but carry out the initial plan. Cinder had made no mention of a dragon joining the fight, maybe it was here to spread further chaos?

That weak explanation had become paper thin as the dragon engaged the grimm dragon and forced it from the sky. That was when Emerald gave the order to stop recording. The two had continued to watch as it killed their biggest asset and then made its way to Vale to wreck further havoc on their grimm forces. The Beowolves that the White Fang snuck in? Incinerated. The Atleasian Paladins that were turned to their side? Melted into slag. All their careful planning, from supplying the White Fang with equipment to planting explosions at key points in the city to let the grimm spread further in, all of it was ended by golden scales and ruby red flames.

And then it had gone to Beacon Tower. The tower that Cinder and the grimm dragon were supposed to destroy together. He and Emerald had watched in silence as the light gathered.

"…Do you think that's her?" Emerald asked suddenly. Her voice shaking him out of his thoughts, breaking the silence that seemed to have fallen across the campus, with most of the injured and the last combatants silenced by the sight above their heads.

Before Mercury could answer, the light lashed out, a blinding white light, orange, and red trailing behind it as it arced across the sky. He watched as the dragon seemed to twist in midair, it's head snaking around to look briefly at the oncoming projectile before it was suddenly engulfed in flames.

Both he and Emerald covered their ears as a piercing shriek let out, a massive fireball consuming the behemoth. The fire expanded, going from a brilliant white to an orange and yellow mix before shrinking in on itself, smoke billowing out in the wind.

In the fading light of the fire, Mercury could just make out a blackened falling figure, getting smaller and smaller before his view was blocked by the cliffside.

"I'd say yes… that was probably her." Mercury said slowly, his eyes locked onto where the figure had fallen out of sight, checking to see if anything moved from the spot.

Nothing did.

Emerald shivered and turned away from the cliff-side, looking back up at the now dark tower.

That's a lot of power…" she murmured a large grin slowly making its way onto her face.

Beside her, Mercury chuckled, "And now it's Cinders."

* * *

 **AN: So you may have noticed I got a temporary beta. And while Cruzer really did me a solid, looking over this and the last chapter (there's a couple more details but nothing plot wise was changed). However I'm also in the market for a couple beta's. Looking for grammar, spelling, and the likes. I'd like to have maybe 3 betas to be able to look over each chapter and so no matter peoples schedule, there's allays someone who can give feedback. If you'd like to be a beta, leave a review or PM me.**

 **Also, can I just say, wow! I did not expect this story to be so popular! I'm glad you all like it so much and want to stick around, I'll try and get the next chapter to you. I always try and have one rough draft completed before I post the previous chapter, so you can rest safe knowing that Chapter 3 rough draft is finished and it'll be posted once I finish writing chapter 4.**

 **If you have thoughts on the chapter or story be sure to shoot me a review. I enjoy reading them and I think of then when writing the next chapter. You might get a sense of what I'm talking about when chapter 3 gets out.**

 **Until next time,**

 **TTA**


	3. We Fought off the Dragon! Yay!

**AN:**

 **Sorry for the longer delay, I realized a huge plot hole in the original plan for this story and needed to figure out where I was going before I continued. Now I have a much better idea of where to take the story. And then immediately after I had jury duty. I still have about a week left (long trial) but with the help of the following beta readers we could get it cleaned up enough. To help make sure you guys know that this story isn't dead. I added a "Next Chapter" section to my profile.  
**

 **Edited and Beta'd by: Cruzerblade, Cr00cy and KAOS UNLEASHED**

 **On with the show!**

* * *

 **Chapter 3- We did it! We fought off the dragon! Yay!**

* * *

Pyrrha was having the best dream. She had just won the Vytal Festival and she and Jaune had gone out to celebrate, just the two of them. Watching the big fireworks celebration over the water. Explosions and cries of joy echoed out. Gold filled Pyrrha's vision as she leaned against Jaune. His warm hard body...The sound reverberating in steady beats...

 _Wumph_

 _Wumph_

Hmmm… that was odd. The fireworks almost sounded like giant win-

"What exactly are you trying to sa-"

"-doesn't have a good explanation, he's going to be in big troub-"

Oh, and Nora and Ruby were here! Pyrrha giggled weakly, she was very tired from the festival after all. It made sense that she couldn't really talk. And besides, why would she? She was here with Jaune, watching the golden fireworks...

"-iously you just don't keep that fro-"

Oh Nora…. Silly silly sillly bo-billy Nora. Talking with such pretty fireworks. Pyrrha was so happy she was on her team. Nora didn't treat her any differently despite her fame... She was so lucky...

"Behind us!"

Pyrrha winced as Nora suddenly shouted. Turning her head, blinking in confusion as the gold seemed to sway and move with her view. Wait, what was happening? Where was she? What was going on? Where was-

Jaune.

He was staring at her, his blue eyes big and wide as he leaned in. The fireworks exploding behind him. Oh my gosh he was going to kiss her. She wasn't ready for this. But this was kind of a date, wasn't it? And she'd been wanting to kiss him for so long…

As his face leaned in, filling her view, Pyrrha weakly giggled as she puckered her lips, excited for her first kiss. Finally, it was happening. It was about time. And she understood the feeling described in the romance novels. Her entire body seemed to heat up and she felt weightless as she moved to kiss back. Nora and Ruby screamed in delight as their lips touched…

The fireworks exploded behind them.

How nice...

* * *

"I nearly had it."

"Yes Peter."

"Honestly, we may have teamed up to take down that Grimm monstrosity but make no mistake, we were ready to turn on each other the second the main threat was dealt with."

"Of course, Peter."

"But it knew that I had the upper hand. Which is why, when I had my attention on the students. it took its chance to escape."

"Peter," sighed Glenda Goodwitch, "Why don't you oversee Oobleck's bullhead? They just arrived with the last of the students from Beacon, I'm sure many of them would benefit to hear of your… triumph."

"Of Course, Glynda! An excellent idea!" The portly man chuckled, turning, and heading towards the landing strip. "And I'll leave you to maintain the west entrance!"

Glynda flicked her wand, sending an avalanche of rubble flying out at a flock of nevermore, sending most of their smoking bodies falling to the ground.

"I think I can handle things here."

The portly professor nodded and headed along the walls down into the sectioned off part of the city. By collapsing some of the bridges and tunnels in the commercial district, they had set apart a section of the city to act as a safe zone for the residents and injured to retreat to during the chaos. As he passed by, several such survivors were huddled alongside scattered fires, talking in low worried voices. Slowly trying to piece together exactly how their lives had fallen apart and just starting to comprehend that their home, one of the central kingdoms of Remnant had fallen. It was a painfully familiar sight to the veteran hunter and even after all his years of experience, it still brought a hollow pain to his chest. But while normally he would have stayed, to try and install some hope, he pushed on. There was work to be done and if the rumors turned out to be true, then their misery might not even be permanent.

Word from some of the survivors near the agricultural district claimed that the main breaks in the city walls were now closed or blocked off. No more Grimm would be able to enter the city. If it was true, then the Grimm were trapped in a closed area, open for Any huntsmen to pick off and clean out. Vale would become the first recorded instance of a recovery following such a large Grimm incursion.

But only if the rumors were true, Professor Port reminded himself as he moved through the makeshift camp and towards a half-destroyed building that used to be a bakery. With part of the roof collapsed, it made a surprisingly good makeshift docking platform and ramp for the evacuation bullheads and its traumatized passengers.

One such bullhead was coming in now, one of last ones of the night before Atlas reinforcements could arrive and get started on the long-term relocation to Patch. Grimm or no Grimm, Vale was still heavily damaged and didn't have any stockpiled resources. Any viable shelter in the city was destroyed and ruined by the chaos. Rampaging Grimm and general destruction caused by the battle, a collapsed Atlas flagship for instance, had damaged and blocked off several key roads of the city and it would take potentially several weeks before the damage could be fully repaired.

The portly man stopped for a second, as a distant rumble echoed through the air. He strained his ears, that had been a huge explosion. Had the Grimm destroyed a dust store? Had another Atlas battleship been destroyed? Or had his rogue mythical steed and potential opponent done something? No further sounds came from the sky and after another moment's pause with just the soft crackle of the many fires the Professor started walking again, filling the explosion away to be investigated later. He straightened up as he approached the landing point, mentally bracing himself.

He kept a tight mental record of which students were still unaccounted for. Some would be on the airship.

Some would not.

Professor Port hoped that all the students were on the bullhead.

Bullhead doors opened and students stumbled out, all sporting varying injuries from their prolonged fights. Some with simple scratches and bruises, others being rushed down on stretchers, their teammates right beside them.

Some walked down the ramp alone. Or with only one person beside them to help them down with their injuries. His heart clenched as he saw Lie Ren and Weiss Schnee support Blake Belladonna as team CRDL ran down the ramp to help carry a stretcher that contained Yang Xiao Long. Behind them Coco supported Velvet, the poor faunus in near hysteria.

"We need to go back for Fox! He's still there! We need to go back!"

Port moved forward, assisting some of the students down the makeshift ramp, murmuring encouragements as he went. Today they had fought bravely to protect their school and their classmates. They had still failed, they had taken losses and been hit harder than they ever had in combat training, but the portly professor was proud of them nonetheless.

"Bart," he called up, stepping up onto the Bullhead, "How was the trip."

The green haired man turned towards him, a tired but welcoming expression on his face as he spotted his colleague. He opened his mouth to respond, "About as fun as the time Glynda tried hosting parent teacher conferences,"

Professor Port winced as he walked up to stand beside Doctor Oobleck as they looked out at the safe zone. Scattered out before them, their students were being called over to campfires and tents, or the makeshift first aid station before the more serious cases were carried off to what remained of Vale's general hospital. It was a tragic sight that squeezed at Oobleck's heart. His students shouldn't have to face something like this. At least not until they could be fully trained and prepared for such a situation.

His vision was suddenly filled with coffee. It was a sad reused water bottle that smelled strongly of stale coffee grounds. Sighing, he reached out his hand to take it. It may have been lukewarm, stale, instant sadness, but it was still coffee.

"Thanks." He said, taking the drink, and downing it in several large gulps, "I left my own stache back in my office." He said, gasping before finished the rest of the bottle.

Professor Port grinned grimly and leaned back against one of the walls of the aircraft. "Might be able to swing by tomorrow if the rumors are true. If Vale's secured then a couple old codgers like us wouldn't be missed."

Professor Oobleck smiled wryly back, as the mustached man leaned in conspiratorially towards him, "Who knows," Port continued, "We may be able to clean Beacon up a bit. Clear out some extra room so to speak. If you are… how do the kids say it? 'picking up what I'm putting down'?"

Oobleck's smile morphed into a full-on grin as he also began to lean in towards the professor, "You want us to clear Beacon of grimm so we can keep our students here instead of moving them to Patch."

Like lightning Port pulled back, his mustache taking on a flustered look as he stared resolutely out at the safe zone. "W-well. Not just for their sake. It'd provide a coordinated area to plan the retaking and rebuilding of Vale, while also giving us a more defendable position. And it'd show those White Fang ruffians why it'd be a poor idea to tangle with Beacon! We'd be able to repair the tower and restore the CCT…"

Oobleck raised an eyebrow, his grin not breaking as he continued to stare at his friend.

"…And I haven't finished telling my classes this year how I fought my way out of the Vacuo situation…" Port added under his breath, his face now fully flushed.

"Is that the one where you used the bow of a bullhead to cut into an Alpha Beringle? The one you tell at the beginning of each year?"

"…. well…"

He flinched slightly as his college slapped his pack and stepped forward to stand beside him,

"Oh, you've never been straight with your feelings old friend," chucked Doctor Oobleck as he looked out at the safe zone with his friend. "While I am more than tempted by your proposal, we'll probably be needed tomorrow to help oversee evacuations and help fight the grimm being drawn to the area. I don't see when we could have the time for our…little trip."

Port didn't answer for a moment, mulling the issue over.

"What are you doing tonight?"

"Probably standing guard with Glynda for a couple hours and trying to get as much sleep as I can befo- Oh. Oh no."

"Oh yes."

"But we've been on our feet nonstop since this crisis began. We need our rest where we can take it! We can't just... just spend the entire night killing grimm!"

"Why not? I was conserving my strength in the fight against that grimm dragon. I thought I would have had to fight that dragon right after. So, I'm still ready to fight. When was the last time we had a guy's night out?"

"…"

"And you just had your cup of coffee. You're not going to sleep anytime soon. Besides you know what you're like in the morning without your cup of 'special' coffee."

"…"

"And it'd allow for other hunters to join us once we have a- "

"Okay."

The mustached professor looked at his friend, a grin coming across his face.

"Let's take back Beacon."

"Stupendous! Then let's be off!"

"Peter?"

"Yes?"

"How do you expect us to get there?"

"… Walking!"

"Walking?"

"It does the body good!"

"Peter… We can't walk to Beacon. We'll need a new plan."

The two of them stood there for a moment in silence, both deep in thought in the doorway of the bullhead.

"…"

"… Peter?"

"Yes Bart?"

"Is this bullhead needed for the rest of the night?"

"No, I don't believe so…"

"…"

Doctor Oobleck took off, running into the depths of the bullhead, "I'm driving!" he yelled over

his shoulder.

Professor Port stared for a moment and then barked out a laugh, hitting the keypad to the doors, grinning as they closed shut. The entire day he had been forced to be on the defensive, protecting his students and ensuring that they had a way out and a safe place to fall back to.

But with that done and the students safe for the night it was the time for the Professors of Beacon to go all out. And Professor Port, Slayer of Dragons and Grimm was on a mission.

As the Bullhead took off, neither Professor took note of the moving shadow making its way over some of the buildings, heading towards the Safe zone, water dripping from its form as it moved silently through the wrecked city.

* * *

Glynda stared out at the night sky, her eyes trying to see through the few grimm that still swarmed above the city.

"And you said it was fired from the Beacon tower?" she asked, her eyes not leaving the sky.

Beside her, Ironwood nodded as he fired a shot up into the sky. After a moment, a griffon dropped from the sky slamming onto a rooftop, black smoke trailing from its head.

"Yes, it was most definitely fired from the tower after the dragon took off. The sudden change in light blinded me momentarily and when my eyes adjusted, I couldn't see that beast in the sky anymore. "

"Is there a chance it may have fallen into the waters?"

"It is a possibility. But it was already half way across the waters when it got hit." Ironwood shot off another bullet and began to reload his gun, "It was pretty fast…" He added, turning his eyes back up into the sky.

Glynda Goodwitch just hummed, as she looked out, deep in thought. Ozpin had remained in the tower to protect the Fall Maiden but he had nothing in his arsenal that would have shot from the tower like that. Maybe if he had been able to transfer the power to Miss Nikos…? But then why hadn't Ozpin contacted her? And the dragon hadn't been hostile to the Hunters, Ozpin would have seen it on his cameras. Did he perhaps know something about this mythical beast that had appeared that night? Was it a sign of another threa-?

"Any word from Ozpin?"

Glynda tore her eyes from the sky to look at the General. He was to, be frank, a mess. His carefully combed military haircut had strands of hair stick out at odd angles, a fine layer of dust and debris on his shoulders as he refilled his magazine with dust rounds.

"I told you James," Glynda replied evenly, "Ozpin's first concern is Beacon's basement, until he feels that 'it's' properly secured, then he'll touch base with us. He entrusted us with the security of Vale and the students in his place. Be patient, the day is only just ending."

General Ironwood sighed, "Let me know when you hear from him. We need his input on the creature…" he trailed off, his eyes floating over the city rooftops. "I'm going to grab some men and check the residential district one last time. See if we missed anyone when we went through there the first time." He said, stowing his gun, and talking to some men as he walked away.

Glynda watched him go before turning back, looking at the sky again. Her mind abuzz. It was hard to believe that her initial tasks that morning had been coordinating the move out for the visiting students out of the guest dorms. Now, only hours later, she oversaw all the citizens of Vale and their safety during the grimm invasion. It was intimidating to say the least.

Though if what some people were saying were true…

Glynda cut off that line of thought immediately, scowling as she walked alongside the wall. She couldn't put faith in such outlandish claims. If the citizens were right, the dragon-like beast had helped fight off the grimm and actually _plug the holes in Vales defenses_. Then it merely raised more questions. Questions that would be harder to answer. Questions about the giant flying reptile, the titan sized creature that stepped over buildings and tore up cement like simple soil to slaughter all the grimm in its sight. Why had it helped them? Was it intelligent? Did it fight the grimm out of some kind of territory dispute? Was it their natural predator? Ironwood had his airships in the sky for weeks in advance. How did it get so close unobserved?

"General Ironwood, Sir!"

Glynda's eyes darted from the sky as she turned to observe the soldier sprinting up to her, taking in his battered form as he looked wildly around for Ironwood.

"He just left for the residential district with some men. You just missed him." Glynda said, facing him fully as she tried to file the questions for later. "What do you need?" she asked.

"T-the Dragon! The Golden Dragon that was in the sky! It's here! On the east side by the evacuation point!" He gasped out pointing a shaky finger in the direction he had come from.

Well speak of the Grimm.

Glynda sighed, flicking her wand to the side as she pulled up wrecked cars and collapsed walls to crush the grimm on the other side of the wall. "I'll handle it. Tell your men to help evacuate the area and to not engage it." She said shortly before taking off at a sprint. Legs skillfully moving over and around the debris. As she ran, she began to hear the panicked cries of the survivors and figures illuminated by firelight, fleeing to the other side of the makeshift encampment. Occasionally she saw others running in the same direction. Students who heard the screams and came to help. Glynda smothered the warmth and affection building up in her to instead yell out directions to them as she ran.

"Do not engage! Assist the evacuation of the civilians and create a perimeter! Do not attack first! I repeat, do not attack first!" Glynda bellowed as she ran. The dragon had not killed or attacked humans to her knowledge. The last thing she needed was some nerve ridden students to open fire the dust round that would change that fact.

She ran faster, she could see the dragon now, a large portion of its back sticking up over the other side of the buildings. It was maybe a block away. But it looked…different as she got closer. The golden scales didn't seem uniform across the broad back. Patches of scales were missing and a silver sheen seemed to coat some of the scales. … blood? The odd coloration soon became self-explanatory as she turned the corner, and the entire dragon came into view.

It was turned away towards them, its massive body facing the makeshift landing platform, set up on the roof top. The area was nearly deserted, the few stragglers supporting the injured as they moved away from the large creature. And across the creature's hide, was silver blood. It split into sheets across the golden scales, small waterfalls leading to a silver pool beneath the beast. And on the top of its back… a wound.

Glynda gasped softly as she took it in, slowing down to a light jog as her eyes traveled over it.

It was a wide ugly thing. Huge amounts of burnt flesh bubbled and pulsed. Silver blood pooling up and trailing over the side. The wounds size was on par with the floor of Ozpin's office. The most sever of the burn in the center, the size of a swimming pool. When it had flown above her head it had looked massive and majestic, a living legend that she'd see in the distance, grimm crumbling beneath its claws and jaws. And now seeing it up close., it looked no less majestic. Or deadly. But it did look injured.

So that's what Ironwood saw in the sky.

Glynda grip tightened on her wand and let out a low breath. She had to be careful with the dragon. They didn't know enough of the beast to know how to treat it. Friend? Foe? All her other questions and musings came back in full force. To assume now could set a dangerous precedent. She needed to be careful.

Glynda slowed to a walk as she moved cautiously along the side of the beast. Passing several other buildings, as she slowly made her way along the tail, passing some crosswalks and even more buildings as she approached the head of the dragon.

Its head was lower, which, wasn't saying much as it still comfortably hovered above the landing platform. Walking up the ramp briskly, she found herself staring at a very big head where the bullhead doors would normally be.

Glynda walked forward, taking a deep breath. This entire day was a mess. Her school was overrun by grimm and White Fang members, some of her students were missing and an entire Kingdom may be overrun by the end of the night and she hadn't heard from Ozpin since before the crisis began. And now a dragon. What was she supposed to do with a dragon?

Despite some students calling her draconic in her punishments, she had little knowledge of dragon's other than that they were fond of princesses.

Glynda Goodwitch was not a princess.

Shaking her head slightly, she looked up and tried to lock eyes with the dragon. While one eye was swollen shut, a milder burn traveling over maw to touch the left side of its large chalkboard sized face. But the other eye was bright and focused as it observed Glynda's form.

Glynda straightened up a little before speaking. "Dragon! …State your... Don't… Why are you here!" she said wincing at her uncertain stuttering.

Smooth Goodwitch.

The head didn't move, the eyes not even blinking as it stood there, it's sapphire eye like a large blue balloon for Glynda to look at. From the corners of her own eyes, Glynda could see other students gathering on rooftops, slowly building a perimeter, ready to react to whatever the move the dragon made.

She locked eyes with the beasts one eye and waited for some kind of response. This hadn't been the first time she'd seen something so large. She had been on plenty of missions into the wilds of Remnant that had brought her face to face with titanic creatures. But it was the first one that seemed to act like a living one. Not a twisted ancient grimm with the shape of a living animal, but a creature in its own right. With intelligence and drive pushing its actions. Hopefully enough intelligence to convey her meaning to the beast. She matched that gaze with an even look, trying to not appear threatening but her muscles tense, ready to react if the dragon decided it didn't need to pay attention to the tiny blond women.

A second passed. As she stared, increasingly more details became apparent to Glynda. The creature had been damaged heavily by the blow to its back judging by its slow labored breaths. And with the left eye shut, it had a massive blind spot. And with the students on the rooftops around her… If she had been assigned to take down such a creature, she couldn't have asked for better circumstances.

Another second passed. And then another. Then…

The dragon moved.

She tightened her grip on her wand as the massive head lowered slowly to rest above of her head. She tried not to wince as its breath from its snout rushed out, hot moist air that smelled faintly of ash. Slowing, still looking at her, it's maw began to open.

"Is it trying to breath fire at me?" She wondered, taking a step back. Was it just a mindless beast? Or maybe… she thought as a wild thought entered her head. Just maybe it was about to talk to her.

Didn't dragons speak riddles in the stories?

Her musings and tension died as its mouth opened all the way and she saw what laid inside.

Spread out on a large fleshy carpet of a tongue, surrounded by large arm length fangs, were Ruby Rose, Pyrrha Nikos, and Nora Valkyrie all laid out and unconscious in the dragons' cavernous mouth.

With a small gasp, Glynda immediately flicked her wand and the three students levitated out, supported delicately by her telekinesis as she examined her students.

Pyrrha was most definitely the worse off, showing obvious signs of battle fatigue and bruises that wouldn't have been possible if she still had her aura. One of her ankles was a bloody mess and neither of her weapons seemed to be on her. Nora and Ruby looked better by comparison and still had their weapons by their sides, but they still showed signs of mild burns and exposure to intense heat, singed clothes, and the pungent smell of burnt hair beginning to fill the air around them.

But all three were alive and were not in any immediate danger.

Glynda wasn't quite sure what to think so she spoke slowly, working through the few half thoughts that were still in her head. "You saved them. You recognized the safe zone and brought them here… But why this building? You saw it being used as a landing pad and knew we'd have people by it regularly. You are intelligent." Glynda breathed out, looking up into the dragon's eye as its maw closed and head began to slowly slide back. And to Glynda, it almost seemed like the dragon winced. Not just any wince though. A very familiar wince. Where had she seen that wince before? Mulling over the question, Glynda stepped back, her students floating beside her as the dragon began to move. Large silver drops splashed as the creature turned and began to slowly lumber away. The observing students shifting and murmuring as retreated.

However, one student, backed up and took a running start, choosing to ignore the moving mountain of scales and instead to join Glynda on the landing platform.

"Nora! Pyrrha! Ruby! Jaune!"

Sprinting towards her, a fresh bandage wrapped around his head, with desperate look on his face, Lie Ren approached, eyes locked onto his levitating friends.

"They're alive." He gasped out as he stopped by Glynda, his arms reaching out for Nora. Glynda levitated the students lower, allowing their teammate to examine them. The boy seemed to sag and stagger before collapsing onto the ground. "They're alive." The boy repeated quietly, holding onto the fact like a mantra as he tried to sit up from his ungraceful collapse, relief on his face.

"We'll need to get them to the first aid tents, but yes. They're out of immediate danger Mr. Lie."

Glynda smiled grimly down at the injured boy. And he was still a boy despite the battle he had been forced to fight. As he his breath slowly began to calm, his small battered form reminded Glynda of how injured and hurt her students had been by the attack. There were guaranteed casualties. An attack this large, it would have been a miracle to have everyone come out unscathed. For the first years, it was their first experience with losing their partners and teammates. At least this time, she knew of one team that had remained intact after the attack. Team JNPR. Ren, Pyrrha, Nora, and…

She blinked down at the boy in confusion.

"Jaune?"

The boy froze for a second and rather than address her, instead moved to all fours, his head up and out, looking at the dragon. Following her student's gaze, the dragon had been shifting its body again, moving slowly down the street and towards the border of the safe zone.

"Jaune!" Ren called out. Glynda watched with eyebrows raised. It was only for a second, and it could have been the beast stopping before it turned a corner… but to Glynda's eyes, the dragon seemed to freeze. Stilling at the boy's call before continuing forward and turning down a street.

Glynda turned away, her eyes remaining on the long reptilian tail as it moved out of sight, she had to focus on the immediate issue of injured students, a Kingdom in shambles, and finding out what happened to the Headmaster. However, she could maybe help do some… groundwork in observing the creature. If she took the bullhead-

Glynda stopped and surveyed the platform she was on, a frown on her face.

Where was the bullhead?

"Professor… do you think we could hurry to the first aid tents?" Ren asked slowly, standing up to his full height and dusting himself off not meeting her eyes. "Now that I know they're all safe, I wish to make sure they all recover. Especially Pyrrha"

Glynda turned to him and inwardly sighed, it looked like the mystery of the dragon would need to be shelved for a later time. But maybe there was one question she could answer in the meantime to satiate her curiosity….

"Just what did you mean by calling the dragon Jaune, Lie Ren?"

A question that would need an answer.

As Lie Ren eyes widened and he winced, Glynda looked back and tried to spot the gold and silver scaly hide above the rooftops, reflecting on the look she saw on the dragon's face. That dragon had definitively winced. Just like Ren's wince...

And Professor Goodwitch recognized the look students had when she caught them red handed. The widened eyes along with a wince when one of her questions touched on the truth. And with both Ren and the dragon sharing such a look, a picture was beginning to form. One that seemed more incredible than anything she had seen that night.

* * *

… _. ow…ow. Pain. Hurts… rest...did good._

 _Safe. good… Everyone knows…_

* * *

Qrow flew above the ruined streets of Vale, deep in thought as he slowly made his way back to the safe zone. He wasn't far off now. After several hours of rescuing and escorting civis, Goodwitch had finally given him a fun job - to investigate the rumors some of the survivors were reporting about the walls of Beacon. According to surviving Atlas soldiers and people living on the outskirts of Vale, the dragon had plugged the main holes in the walls, and took out the grimm in the area, stopping any more from entering the city. What Qrow had found had made those claims an understatement. The dragon hadn't just plugged the holes.

It'd built the city new defenses.

Taking out most of the behemoths and in some cases, collapsing buildings and dropping vehicles to patch the holes, the dragon had cleared the area with efficiency. With large trenches dug in front of the walls and burning logs and trees harvested from the forest, a flaming barricade was erected between the city and grimm. The entire time, Qrow hadn't seen any grimm in the area larger than an Ursa. It was far from a seal tight block, but it was enough to keep out the larger Grimm and cut down on their numbers. With these makeshift defenses in place, it'd be a piece of cake to reinforce them and clear the city of existing grimm. A simple job that any capable taskforce could do. Huntsmen or otherwise. Vale had survived one of the largest grimm attacks in modern history. A historic event for all of Remnant.

"Kaww…" Qrow swore softly as he flapped his wings to gain more height. If there was any greater proof that the dragon was on their side, it was this. Glynda and Oz would need to know imm-

"Kaww?!"

His flightpath was suddenly blocked, a massive golden wall of yellow scales dripping with silvery liquid in a space that was unoccupied a second before. Qrow folded his wings and dived to the left, bumping against the scaly surface roughly before rapidly descending to the pavement below. This was going to hurt.

* * *

Trading scrapped feathers for scraped skin, Qrow sat up from the pavement and glared beadily at what had sent him crashing.

The large injured monster didn't even notice him as it continued along its path, not reacting the destruction it caused as is squeezed down a street that was much too small for the behemoth. Windows shattered and metal and stone was pushed inwards as the dragon moved further down the street before slowing to a stop.

Qrow held his breath, his eyes locked on the large battered form. Whatever the beast did next, he'd need to report it back to Ozpin and Ironwood. Helper or not, it was still a large unknown. Something that blindsided everyone. It was helpful during the crisis, but once the dust settled, people would have questions. Not just Ozpin but people all over Remnant. Schnee and his cronies up in Atlas. Lionheart and the other headmasters. The council of Vale. They'd all want answers. And Oz had to be the one to give those answers.

The dragon stood for a second and then let out a long sigh. It sighed and it sighed and it….no… that wasn't a sigh… just what-?

Qrow's jaw dropped as the dragon appeared to deflate, scales shrinking and merging together, legs being pulled closer together as the dragon's form warped and shifted. It quickly diminished in size, falling from building height to street lamp and even smaller. Scales began to shift color, injured skin taking its place. Silver blood pumped out, slowly shifting to a red maroon color. Claws sunk down and narrowed out, becoming bloodied toes and fingernails. And from the head sprouted a blond mop of hair that was heavily blackened and bloodied. The entire process took maybe five minutes. All of it passed in stunned silence.

Qrow shakily got to his feet and walked forward, passing the large indentations in the ground caused by the dragon's weight and towards the unconscious teenager laid out in the middle of the street.

"Ka- I mean shit…" he whispered as he looked down at the boy. His back was horribly burned, his armor and clothes peppered with rips, tears and holes spread across his body minor burns underneath. And what shocked Qrow the most was that he recognized the kid. He saw him participate in the tournament! He had been on the same team as Nikos… team leader if he recalled correctly. J… Jean? Jan? Jun? Jan something or other.

And he could apparently change into a giant dragon.

Qrow stared for a moment before shrugging and picking the kid up, taking care to not put too much pressure on the boy's injuries. Dragon or not, the kid blocked off the grimm and helped a lot during the crisis. He was all right in Qrow's book. Besides, he could turn into a crow when needed. It wasn't anything odd about another shapeshifter showing up out of the blue.

The boy secured, Qrow set off again, his eyes looking out, trying to look past the destruction caused by the dragon just walking through the street.

"It's fine," he said aloud to the destroyed city, "This won't be complicated or difficult or anything. The boy can be a dragon, nothing weird about that. I turn into a crow. It's a perfectly natural thing to do. It's like killing your first grimm or puberty."

Qrow tried to ignore the fact that his shapeshifting abilities were specific to his tribe of people and were used with a specific purpose in mind.

The boy shifted and moaned in pain, causing Qrow to cast a worried glance at him. The burns were bad. He need to get him some medical attention quick or else it wouldn't matter if he could shapeshift.

Qrow tried to move faster, wincing at the unintentional jostles he was giving Jan.

* * *

"Nurse," Glynda called out, walking into the first aid tent with four floating students behind her, "Three new patients and an exhausted concussed returner for you!"

Ren sighed at his description and crossed his arms as he was lowered onto a cot. When Coco had ran in talking about the dragon arriving in the safe zone, he knew he had to be there. If Professor Goodwitch had just given him a minute to rest, he could have walked back on his own. He was okay. It was a just a concussion. He wasn't in danger.

"Ruby!" Weiss called out, moving from her chair by Blake's bed to stand by the side of her partners new bed as the small girl was lowered into it. As the three members of team JNPR were settled down and the nurses began attending to them, Glynda turned to one of the Atlas men standing guard and walked toward him.

"You there, locate and pass a message onto Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck. Tell them that the evacuation bullhead has gone missing. Have them track it down and to use it to survey Beacon. We need to confirm if it's unsalvageable."

The soldier saluted and left the tent. Before Glynda could focus on anything else, she was pushed out of the way by one of the nurses as two others rushed the stretcher carrying Pyrrha Nikos out of the tent.

"Give me a report of her injuries," Glynda instructed the nurse that had pushed her, and was now holding the tent flaps open for the table to be pushed through.

"Aura exhaustion, a nasty puncture wound on her foot, probably some muscle damage there, and major first degree burns with minor second degree burns all over her body and enough bruising and hairline fractures everywhere to make us worry about internal bleeding. We're forwarding her to intensive care inside the main hospital." The nurse listed off, immediately rushing back into the tent to focus on her other patients once the stretcher was fully out.

"And the other two?" Glynda asked, stepping into stride with the nurse and helping her grab some bandages and salve from a supplies table.

"Nora! Pyrrha!" A squeaky voice called out, and Glynda spared a relieved glance as the young leader that had just woken up.

"Much better. Only first and second-degree burns. The girl in the hood was low on aura but they're both fine for the most part. Just tired." The nurse said, rushing forward to push down the small girl that was trying to sit up.

Glynda watched the nurse speak to Ruby softly before her and Weiss began to treat her burns. Walking further into the tent, Glynda turned her attention to her other injured students, checking in on how they were doing.

Ruby needed time before she was questioned as to how and why she and her friends came to be in the dragon's mouth.

Jaune's mouth if Ren's concussed ramblings were to be believed.

* * *

Blurry shapes and hushed voices greeted her return to consciousness. Ruby was confused, what had happened? The last thing she had remembered was the dragon's roar of pain, immense heat, and the dragon's head whipping around towards them, it's giant maw open as flames seemed to travel over its head as its scales shimmered in the firelight….

"Nora! Pyrrha!" Ruby coughed out, making to sit up.

"Lay down," A voice commanded as a hand with a tight grip grabbed the girl's shoulder and firmly pushed her back into the bed. "It's been a long day for you and we're not done treating your injuries."

Ruby stared up at two blurry white figures as they slowly consolidated into a grumpy looking middle-aged woman and Weiss. "Bwah?" she asked, still confused.

"You, take this salve and apply it to her burns. Don't rub it in, just place it on the burned skin, the bandages will keep it there," the woman said, passing a small open jar to Weiss. Weiss took the jar and quietly began applying it to Ruby's arm. She winced at the pain.

Slowly, as the two worked, the rest of the world came into focus for Ruby. The green hazy fog revealed itself to be the inside of a tent, the other white shaped with colors on them showed themselves to be people, and Weiss appeared to have tears in her eyes.

Oh.

That was never good.

"I guess 'right back' wasn't fast enough," Ruby said quietly, wincing at how dry her throat felt. She winced again as Weiss pressed a glob of salve hard onto a burn. "You dunce," Weiss hissed as she reached into the jar to pull out more salve. "All I saw was fire up there. And nothing else! You didn't come back down, you didn't answer your scroll and the last Bullheads were leaving! Sun and his team had to help me move Blake and Yang!"

The heiress paused, wiping at her eyes with her arm furiously. "I thought…I t-thought…"

Ruby frowned as the nurse stepped back, satisfied with the amount of medicine goop that was on the girl.

"Sorry"

"Idiot."

The two girls remained silent as the nurse moved to the bed next to Ruby where Nora laid, still unconscious.

"How're Pyrrha and Nora?"

Weiss sighed and looked over at Nora, "Nora's the same as you, for the most part, while they just took Pyrrha to Intensive care. She was injured pretty bad."

Ruby's next question died on her lips as another figure stepped into the tent. "Uncle Qrow!" she gasped, as the rugged man glanced around the tent before heading towards her, his eyes locked on her injuries. "Ruby!" He said, rushing to stand by her bedside, "Are you, all right?" He asked, his gaze trailing over her burns as Weiss continued to apply salve.

"I'm extra crispy, but I'm good," Ruby said, reaching out a hand to grab her uncle's hand, bringing his eyes to her own.

"Right, right," Qrow muttered as he squeezed her hand before stepping away. "This is the first aid tent… you wouldn't be here if it was serious…" he continued, his eyes trailing over the other cots. He straightened up and rested a hand on Ruby's head, "Rest up Squirt, I'll check in with you and sleeping beauty in the morning,"

"Bye Uncle Qrow…" Ruby trailed off, watching as her uncle staggered off, making a beeline to where Professor Goodwitch was speaking softly with another bed ridden student, a thought trailing into her head.

If Uncle Qrow hadn't known that she was here in the first aid tent, then why had he come here?

Her thoughts were interrupted as Weiss slap a glob of slave onto her shoulder before rubbing it in. "So, tell me," the heiress muttered, her focus on Ruby's arm. "What happened up on that tower? And how'd you get off?"

Ruby thought about it. About the woman surrounded by dragon fire and Nora riding on the dragon's back. About the sheer size of the creature and riding it across the water. And the wave of fire that snuck up on them. And how the dragon saved them.

Then she thought about how to tell Weiss how it happened without sounding like a crazy lady.

"Erm…"

* * *

Mercury eyed with trepidation the collapsed buildings and large gouges in the pavement, the linger signs of the dragon's victory against the grimm as he and Emerald ran past. If that beast had survived…

No, he told himself, there's no way it had survived. Nothing could survive that power. It was for that very reason that they had gone these lengths to get the Fall Maiden Power.

He shook his head and continued forward, following after Emerald as they climbed the stairs. With the power relays to the tower destroyed, it had left them the tedious task of climbing up, step by step until they could rejoin Cinder.

Mercury was glad that he had metal legs.

"So, do you know what's next?" he called out, taking the stairs two at a time to catch up to Emerald.

The out of breath, red eyed girl glared at him, her chest heaving as she struggled to keep a good pace, "Not immediately. I know Cinder was communicating with someone in Mistral… But that's about it."

He nodded, continuing his pace to quickly pass her, ignoring her muttered curses. Mistral was nice, he had grown up in the area, there was a pretty good restaru-

He reached the top of the stairs, his musings cut off by the sight in front of him.

"Oh…wow…."

Half of the landing had been melted or burned by the heat. Warped metal, liquid glass, scorch marks and ashes littered the floor. And on the edge, laying down on the cooled metal…

"Cinder!" Emerald cried out, rushing past Mercury to their fallen leader. He started his own legs and ran to her side as well. He'd never seen her look this way. She had always been composed from the moment he met her. Composed, prepared, and dangerous. Now it didn't look like she could claim even one of those descriptions. Her clothes were charred and fully burnt, and all her skin was a shiny pink. Her hair was a mess, despite her attempts to push it back as Emerald helped her up. She coughed, a horribly hacking noise and cracked her eyes open, looking up at her subordinates.

"Emerald?" She muttered, her eyes roaming to the rest of the landing. They looked hazily and out of focus before snapping wide open, her body surging forward as she tried to stand up. Managing to just flop ungracefully in Emeralds arms.

Mercury chuckled under his breath.

"The dragon!"

"You got it boss," Mercury said as Emerald helped her to her feet, "Saw it fall into the waters and there's been no sign of it since."

Cinder growled as she staggered, pushing off from Emerald. "Not good enough. I need to see the body."

Straightening up a bit, Cinder looked out across the water from the tower towards Vale. She eyed an evacuation bullhead, making its way shakily towards Beacon. There was hardly any sign of grimm in the sky. For all intents and purpose, the campus was quiet and calm. If you ignored the destroyed classrooms and the occasion Grimm. Below, a large pile of rubble, the only remaining sign of the Grimm dragon. This was not how the night was supposed to go.

"I obtained the Fall Maiden's power and dealt with Ozpin," Cinder said slowly. "How are we on our other goals for the evening?"

Mercury stepped forward, shaking his head. "Vale still stands and we had to cut the broadcast short so that damn dragon didn't start to give people hope. That dragon creature did a real number on us." Mercury tried to keep a level voice as he delivered the bad news, paying close attention to Cinder's face. It was first impressions to the news that would say everything." It killed our grimm spawner, and did something in Vale while killing most of the grimm. It looks like Roman was taken out and no one's heard from Adam. Some of the Fang say the dragon got him."

Cinder didn't respond, her eyes still tracing the skyline of Vale, spying only a couple grimm here or there along the waterside. There were far too few. She had planned for the skies to be filled and the streets to be teaming. This was anything but. She'd need to correct her failure before moving on.

Salem wouldn't let her move on until it was corrected.

"That beast was a complete unknown, "she spoke up suddenly, turning to her two subordinates. "We had nothing prepared for it and we know nothing about why it was here. Finding out about that dragon is our top priority. Nothing else matters until we know where it came from and why it fought the grimm. And finding out if it survived is top priority."

"Erm… not that I'm against this plan, but how? Mercury can't show his face and someone probably recognized your voice from the announcement." Emerald said, stepping forward. "We're outed."

Cinder's eyes flashed, causing the green haired girl to take a nervous step back, only relaxing when she received a smile.

"Which is why he and I will be moving out of Vale. You however Emerald are still an unknown to Ironwood and Ozpin's lackeys. Follow the other students, get us a lay of the land. Act like a scared and confused student. Mercury and I need to leave the kingdom immediately. If that dragon is still alive then we'll need some… reinforcements."

Despite her less than gracious look, she stepped forward, new purpose in her movement as her eyes almost seemed to glow.

"Mercury, give me your scroll. I need to make a call."

* * *

 **AN: It was this chapter that was the first one written with the reader comments in mind. And the first major change is the return of Oobleck and Port, taking on much larger roles that initially planned in the draft. That's probably another advantage of rewriting the main plot. Before they were planned as comic relief for just one chapter. Now they have a semi-important role to play in the overall story! Woo for crazy professor shenanigans! And I've always been of the impression that, to successfully teach a bunch of rampant hormone addled teenagers with superpowers, you need probably some of the strongest, craziest hunters out there to be their instructors. So, having them randomly decide to solo and clear out a Grimm and white fang infested campus seems like a reasonable Friday out night to me.**

 **Also… a lot of people… reacted to the tower scene in last chapter in a lot of different ways. Some calling out the apparent power levels (both calling both Jaune and Cinder) being over and under-powered depending on which comments you read and others calling out Jaune's strategy (or rather lack of one) to be rather stupid. While I explain a lot of it in further chapters (and please trust me, I have given** _ **some**_ **thought to power levels, strategy, and such details.) one thing that I'll include here because it won't be mentioned in other chapters is that Jaune's main concern at the time was saving Pyrrha and his friends. Not defeating a woman with weird super strong powers. Also, [Explanation redacted for future chapters] played a huge factor. Plus [Redacted] and [Redacted]. So hopefully that helps tide you over until the story actually gets to explaining itself.  
**

 **Again, I don't know what I'm doing right until you...** _ **write**_ **me and tell me what you think! So, you guys write reviews and I'll write the next chapter for you all! All right? Right! Man, the puns….**


	4. So now that the Dragon is gone

**AN:**

 **Started training for my new job for the college year and whoo is it a doozy. Thankfully, while I work, the awesome beta readers are at play, going through this chapter for you all! Make sure to thank them in the comments.**

 **Edited and Beta'd by** ** **Cruzerblade, Cr00cy and KAOS UNLEASHED****

 **On with the show!**

* * *

 **Chapter 4- So now that the dragon is gone...**

* * *

"Ha-ha! Come along Mr. Alistair! It's time for us to clear out the west side of campus and reconvene with Doctor Oobleck! If we get there first we can fight the last grimm! And I'll be able to show you how to properly Suplex a King Taijitu!"

Fox Alistair let out a sigh, shifted his weapons back into revolvers and fell in line behind Port. The Professor beamed down at him before turning and strolling down the hallway at a brisk pace with his axe at the ready. As they slowly worked their way through the campus they came across pockets of students. Some were protecting civilians and their injured classmates, others had missed the last bullhead out of Beacon making them stranded on campus and a few students from the other academies simply got lost. Each one of them exhausted and relieved to see the two, cementing in Port's mind that this was a good idea.

The list of uncounted students in the Professor's head was quickly shrinking in size as more students were accounted for.

In fact, Port had come across young Alistair protecting a group of first years in the , a student after his own heart. If Beacon re-opened that year, Fox as well as many other students would receive special commendations in the form of a gold star sticker. Professor Port didn't hand those out to anyone, he only had one pack after all.

With the rescued students safe on the Bullhead and Fox with him to escort any other survivors they came across; Oobleck and Port were free to sweep the remainder of the campus to ensure that it was clear of any grimm or White Fang. They were determined to ensure that Beacon would not fall.

Professor Port's face was marred by a light frown when he rounded corner and ran headfirst into an Ursa. _"That's odd, I thought I had already cleared this area"_. As the bear grimm staggered from the unexpected headbutt, Port raised his axe and bisected the grimm. As he quickly moved past the dissipating corpse he noted that the White Fang had been curiously absent from the campus. Not a single member of the radical organization was found; classrooms, dorms, faculty rooms, everywhere he looked,he saw signs of their presence, dropped masks and used medical supplies, but none of their members to sink his blade into…

"Peter!"

Professor Port turned with a grin as his colleague ran up to him with seven other students in tow. The night had been a success, despite the lack of White number of missing students was in the single digits now and the grounds of Beacon were silent, any remaining grimm vanquished. He felt a weight lift off his shoulders as he stepped forward to clap Oobleck on the shoulder.

"Well done Oobleck! I take it the west side has already been cleared out? Stupendous!" Port roared out, laughing cheerily as his eyes scanned the battered but safe students. Losing people in battle was expected when working as a huntsman. Even in the huntsmen academies, it wasn't uncommon to have a dozen students not survive to graduation each year. Any and all life rescued was a cause for celebration; to have rescued well over fifty was a cause for special celebration. Professor Port would make sure to tell this story to the next year students when Beacon re-opened.

"I believe that means that Beacon is fully and completely secure-"

"Peter."

The mustached man cut off, his eyes darting to his friend's face, taking note of the pain in the eyes and his tight mouth. He had seen something. Something terrible.

"Erm...Yes. Fox! Take these students to the Bullhead and wait for us to return. We'll do one last sweep of campus before joining you!" Professor Port rushed out, quickly steering himself and the somber doctor further down the hall and around the corner. With the amount of grimm killed already, the students should encounter no resistance back to the Bullhead.

"Now then…" Port started, slowing his walk, and turning to his friend. "What's the matter? What have you found?" In Ports mind, eventualities and horrible scenarios flashed through his head. Gristly fates of the few missing students. Poor young Arc or Nikos found loss of the break room coffee machine. It took a lot to shake Bartholomew. Whatever it was, it was going to b-

"Ozpin." Oobleck said, his eyes distant. "I found him."

Professor Port's brain froze.

Ozpin. Unofficial rally man and leader of huntsmen initiatives. Headmaster of Beacon. One of the most skilled men Peter Port had the privilege of fighting along side. His friend. His brother in arms. No.

"Where?"

* * *

Blake grunted as the rubble she was pushing against collapsed inward, letting light spill into the destroyed shop. Ducking down, she squeezed through the opening she made into the room, coughing slightly as her movements kicked up dust.

"And then we were on its back!"

"Yes Ruby."

She surveyed the trashed shop. A Bakery if the stale loaves of bread sprawled across the ground were anything to go by. From the looks of it, no one had been in the building for quite awhile. "Hello?" Blake called out. "Anybody here need saving? Or… grimm that need killing?"

"Flying away from the tower!"

"I know Ruby."

Blake strained her ears to try and listen, to see if her call had stirred any reaction in wreckage. Nothing reached her ears. All was silent. With a sigh, she turned and crawled back through the opening she made, to join her teammates outside.

"And then from behind us came this bright light and- "

"The last thing you saw was the dragon's maw and then you woke up in the first aid tent." Weiss continued, rubbing her forehead with a hand before looking up at her faunus teammate. "Anything?"

Blake ran her hands through her hair, brushing off some broken bits of plaster and dust. "Nothing. Just like the last building… and the last one."

"One building had a Nevermore!" Ruby chimed in, hopping off a destroyed car to walk past two. "So, it's not all nothing!"

"That Nevermore was the size of a dog and was stuck trying to go through a cat flap." Blake replied, falling into step with her diminutive leader. "It was more 'nothing' than 'something'."

"Pshhh! Details!" Ruby said enthusiastically, pulling up a map of Vale on her scroll. "That means we've completed three streets and only have two more before we can report that this entire block is clear! That's three cheers for team RWBY! Hip hip!"

Blake and Weiss exchanged glances before rolling their eyes and raising their hands limply in the air.

"Hooray." Both droned flatly.

Ruby stared at the two, her smile frozen on her face for a second before she turned away and increased her pace, putting distance between herself and her team.

Blake winced as she watched the girl move off, guilt welling up inside her. Ruby was trying her best to stay positive and move the conversation forward. It was forced and awkward, but she tried. It was more than her and Weiss could claim.

Weiss sighed before increasing her pace as well, coming up on Ruby's right side. The two went back and forth for a bit, each increasing their pace only for the other girl to match it, before Ruby, with a burst of her semblance, rocketed forward and around the street corner. Weiss broke out into a sprint, calling after her partner as she too turned the corner.

Blake watched them go before turning her gaze to the destroyed street around her, taking her time to navigate through the mess. It was a the ruined husk of Vale's shopping district and her friends. Although her team had survived and were doing their best to pretend nothing had changed, something had. Ruby had an almost demonic cheerfulness when she wasn't alternating between sitting quietly by Yang and Pyrrha's bedside. Jaune's was out of reach, as they didn't allow any visitors into the main hospital. Only medical personnel allowed into the overcrowded building. Any attempts from Blake or Weiss to talk to her was met with the same result. A rushed excuse and semblance generated rose petals.

Not that they were doing any better. For Weiss, it was probably her first time living in an isolated area where modern comforts were rare and rationed. To her credit, she had accepted the situation with what little grace she could muster and had not openly complained about the decline in her living conditions.

Also to her credit, was a shortened temper and tendency to overreact to each little slight.

And for Blake herself…

A sudden crunch caused her to glance down, brow furrowed. Her eyes widened, pulse quickening as she quickly jumped back, inadvertently activating her semblance, drawing her weapon as she did so, trying to put as much distance between herself and…and…

A cracked White Fang mask stared up at her, its eyes empty as a shadow replica of herself stood over it, her panicked expression frozen on its face as it flickered slightly.

Blake let out a tight breath as she slowly relaxed, putting away Gambol Shroud and closing her eyes briefly. She was fine, she told herself. There was nothing to worry about and no danger. Adam was not there. She was safe.

Inhaling sharply through her nose, she opened her eyes and walked forward firmly. Swinging her fist as she walked past it, her double vanishing into thin air, she made a point of stepping onto the mask as she moved to join her team.

Blake still had some things to sort out.

* * *

When Blake arrived on the next street, she paused and took in the damage. There was something… different about this street.

She moved cautiously along the sidewalk, her eyes roaming over the buildings. Oh sure, there were signs of grimm and general destruction, crashed cars and ashes where rampant fires had burned themselves out. But there was something…unusual. Maybe it was in how some of the buildings were damaged…or maybe how-

She let out a small yelp and stiffened in surprise as her foot dropped down, falling into a deep compression that tripped her up. Taking a moment to regain her footing, she looked down into the unexpected pothole and came to a stark realization. The dragon had been here. Her eyes shot up and moved over the street with a new perspective, small details snapping into place.

Those buildings were pushed inward because the dragon squeezed through the street to chase after grimm. The melted scrap metal wasn't from a fire, but rather gigantic fire breath. And the 'pothole' she had just stumbled into was just one of many large tracks left all over the street from where it's immense weight pushed into the earth.

Blake swallowed dryly and hurried across the street and into one of the nearest buildings. Her teammates would be in there. They were normal. They were safe.

When Blake joined her team in the building, they were already deep inside, pushing past fallen rubble and support beams. Unsurprisingly to the cat faunus, they were in the middle of another argument; a very familiar argument at that. Blake paused at the entrance to watch the two, a small smile made its way across her face. Although they had been through so much, they still hadn't abandoned each other. The back and forth bickering washed over Blake and was oddly soothing to her as she stood and listened to them. It brought her back to lazy afternoons spent in their room as she worked her way through one of her books and Weiss tried to help Ruby with her homework.

"But why couldn't the dragon be Jaune?" Ruby asked, shoving aside a collapsed bookcase to get at a door. "I mean it makes some sense."

"It is literally not possible Ruby, there is no physical way that scrawny Arc could somehow turn himself into that massive beast!" Weiss retorted, roughly shoving door open, before closing it when she saw that room was empty. "The laws of physics don't allow it! No dust manipulation or semblance would allow a change of that size!"

Ruby let out a whine of frustration as she checked the doors across from her, "Then where did it come from? The Grimm dragon broke out of a mountain! And Ren said he saw it and that they all saw it!"

"That's…" Weiss trailed off and Ruby wore a satisfied expression. "That's probably stress from the battle. And not everyone could track the dragon. Besides!" exclaimed Weiss as she turned to walk by Ruby, her side of the building cleared. "If Jaune was the dragon, then why would he have breathed fire at me and Velvet?"

Ruby's triumphant expression fell and her eyebrows scrunched together, the girl deep in thought as she followed her partner.

"Maybe- oh thanks Blake!" The girl started, thanking her friend who had moved on to clear an opening to the next building. "Maybe he was attacking something else! Like a Nevermore that was swooping down and was about to grab you!"

Weiss stopped walking and turned to stare at the younger girl. "A Nevermore." She deadpanned. "A Nevermore that required over half a minute of constant fire?"

Ruby chuckled weakly, shrugging and glancing to the side. "I don't know… the dragon did the same to the woman at the top of the tower. She must have gotten a good few minutes …Maybe his flames don't hurt people?"

Weiss continued to stare, before turning to Blake with an exasperated look as Ruby fidgeted with her cape. Blake sighed and closed the door to the room she was looking into.

"Ruby, if his flame wasn't lethal then then why did it breath fire on that woman? Weiss raises a valid point, the beast attacked her. If it really was Jaune, it would have imprisoned her in a tower to sing her a song" She said evenly, closing a door as she turned to talk to her teammates.

Weiss gaged as Ruby wrinkled her nose at the implication. "But that just raises even more questions if it wasn't Jaune! why would it let Nora ride it? Or why did it save us when that fireball hit it? If it wasn't Jaune then why did it care about our safety?" Ruby asked as they moved out of the building, their search turning up empty.

"I don't know." Blake replied turning her gaze to the next building, eyeing the structural damage. "But if Jaune really was the dragon, then there are other questions you should be asking. Like are there more like him? Why did he chose this fight to reveal his secret? Why did he join Beacon? And what else is he hiding?" She broke her gaze from the city to lock eyes with Ruby. "I hid my faunus ears because they were connected to my history as a White Fang member. If that's the kind of secret that comes with being a regular faunus, what secrets does Jaune have?"

Weiss chimed in, taking on a gentler tone that Blake hadn't heard since before the Vytal festival, "And if the dragon isn't Jaune, which it isn't, then your questions are still important. Why would a dragon save three random students? What are its real motivations? Is it our ally? Or do we just share a common enemy?" Weiss shook her head, "Even if it was Jaune, there's no guarantee that he's our friend. "

Ruby remained quiet as they entered the next building and began searching for signs of life. Weiss traded a worried look with Blake who shook her head back. Ruby would need to think through this on her own. With Blake, it was easy for the girl to accept Blake's shady past. And with Weiss chewing her out for not being in touch immediately, Ruby didn't even need to speak up, the Schnee heiress expressing all the worry and anger that they had carried over that weekend. But with Jaune, it was too large a secret to let slide without an explanation. _"If it was Jaune"_ , Blake reminded herself. Despite it...explaining some things, there were just too many unknowns to take the crazy claim at face value. No matter how much Ruby wanted to.

Blake thought back to the explosive appearance of the dragon during the fight with Adam. At the time she had been stunned, first at the sudden removal of the Yang, Adam, and most of the ceiling. Then from seeing her grimm studies professor standing between the dead and living dragons; and as she later learned he was apparently the one to deal the killing blow. But thinking back on the sheer size of the creature, Blake couldn't even think of begin to compare it to a human. The apparent size and strength on a completely different level. Much less the lanky, high pitched blond who was perhaps the worst prospective huntsmen in Beacon.

Shaking her head, she stepped forward, breaking the silence, "Come on, the sooner we finish our patrol the sooner the construction workers can move in and begin their repairs." Not turning to look at the others, Blake opted instead to jump up to the second story to climb in through a window.

Questions needed to be answered regardless of the truth. A dragon had flown out of the story books and into the skies of Vale. And that was the least of their worries from Blake's perspective. A rogue terrorist group working with Grimm to apparently topple one of the four kingdoms. Something was happening, and it was probably just the beginning.

* * *

"There were several students there Yang. If it wasn't Jaune how else would you explain how he went missing at the exact same time with all those students there?"

"Nora, I don't know, but there has to be a better explanation than a dragon! And Ren's the only one who-"

Pyrrha returned to consciousness slowly. Hearing establishing itself first, followed quickly by touch. A sour sensation that made her curl in on herself in pain. A dull ache pulsed up her leg along with several small bruises making their presence known.

" _That doesn't feel good"_ she thought as she cracked open her eyes. She stared at the faded green ceiling, her eyes not fully focused. What had happened? Why did her body ache so much? She's never felt this bad before… Then it all came rushing back.

The festival. Penny. The attack. The maiden. Ozpin. Cinder. The dragon. Nora. Ruby.

She surged to her feet, or at least tried to before collapsing back onto the mattress, her mind filled with panic and confusion as her body filled with aches and pains.

Where was she? What happened to Cinder? To Beacon? Why was Penny a robot? Nora was riding a-

"Welcome back P-Money!"

"Pyrrha!"

"You're awake!"

Hey view was quickly filled with colored blobs. Bright orange, pink and black met her eyes as she blinked owlishly at the change. What had just…? Slowly, they came into focus, morphing into the faces of her friends. Ren smiling at her from a chair, dressed in a medical gown, Nora, bouncing excitedly as she weaved her way around a bed to get to Pyrrha's side.

Movement from the corner of her eye made her roll her head, Yang waving at her from the bed, a line of cots set out behind her with other figures. She swallowed, wincing at how dry her throat felt.

"Where…?"

"Take it easy, we're at the safe zone in Vale." Ren answered, grabbing a water bottle from beside the bed and opening it.

"You were injured pretty badly, and completely out of aura. It's been about three days since they let you out of intensive care." Nora chimed in, helping her up into a sitting position, Ren brought the bottle close to her lips for her to drink.

"Drink slowly," He said, gently tilting back the bottle. And drink she did, closing her eyes in relief as the little bit of liquid raced down her parch throat. Bliss.

Three days? Intensive care? How bad were her injuries?

Taking a gasp as Ren moved the bottle away, she took a couple steady breaths, looking around the room. It was tent if the walls, roof and cement beneath the beds was anything to go by. While only a few of the beds were filled, the people who were in them were obviously still recovering from injuries. Casts, braces, and other wrappings, littered the bodies of her injured schoolmates.

Most of them sleeping she noted before trailing her eyes over to Yang's bed. She frowned as she stared at the lilac eyed girl. She looked fine by comparison. Swallowing again she spoke, her voice much more solid after the drink.

"Yang…why…?"

The blond-haired girl winced and looked away, "I was…injured while fighting. My aura was wiped out and I took a…beating that gave me some microfractures. They're just keeping me here until my aura heals the bones. I...just woke up this morning." She said, a minor blush on her face. "But they're letting me out tomorrow!" she added hastily.

Nora snorted and giggled, sitting on Pyrrha's bed and leaning against the girl's shoulder. Pyrrha pushed back, welcoming the support. "Please! Combat? Jaune rolled on top of you!"

Pyrrha's brain broke. Jaune? On top of Yang? What? But? A mix of disbelief and jealousy flooded her being. She turned, looking for the boy, to hear his spluttered denials but… Where was he? Her eyes scanned the tent, trying to find that familiar mop of blond hair.

No sign of him.

"For the last time! There's no way it was Jaune! And it wasn't a roll! It was a freaking avalanche of brick and scales! You try having a building collapse on-"

"Where's Jaune?" Pyrrha asked quietly, killing the conversation before it started. Nora stiffened beside her as Yang bit her lip and looked away. Ren sighed and began to inspect the ceiling.

"Guy's, where's Jaune?" asked Pyrrha again, a tight lump in her chest as she tried to meet the eyes of her friends.

"He's okay." Ren said quickly, moving to quell her growing panic. "He's in the hospital still recovering.

It's just…"

"How he got there that's ambiguous." Finished Yang, sending a weird look towards Ren before looking back at Pyrrha. "He was found unconscious in Vale, covered in burns and scrapes his aura completely spent. A huntsman carried him here on the first night."

Pyrrha let out a shaky breath she hadn't realized she had been holding, "W-well that's not too bad… But what's ambiguous about that?" Pyrrha asked, leaning more against Nora as the conversation dragged on taking comfort in her teammates presence.

"Well…" Yang started, throwing another weird glance at Ren. Just what was up between them? Pyrrha wondered. "Jaune was last seen in Beacon. Before…let's call it disappearing. If you believe Ren's brain damaged account… Jaune transformed into that golden dragon that was fighting that night… and must have landed in Vale to transform back."

Pyrrha stared at Yang.

Yang stared back.

Pyrrha turned her head slightly to look at Ren.

Ren looked at the water bottle he was holding.

"Not a Nora Dream?" Pyrrha asked weakly.

"I know it sounds crazy." Ren admitted.

Nora pouted.

"Ren…" Pyrrha started. "Are you sure you didn't just see the dragon right after you lost track of Jaune?"

Yang fell back onto her bed, she let out a chuckle, "That's what I first asked too!" she exclaimed. "There's no way, Vomit Boy of all people, could turn into a dragon. People turning into animals in general just isn't possible! It sounds like human propaganda from the Faunus Rights Revolution!"

"It's the truth," Ren replied tersely. Shifting his gaze to Pyrrha, he shifted his gaze to look her in the eye. "He changed into that dragon to save Velvet and Weiss."

"Ren doesn't lie." Nora chimed in quietly, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder in silent support.

Pyrrha searched her friend's eyes and found that he believed what he said. She thought back to her last, hazy memories. Back to a giant golden dragon, bloody wounds along its neck and in between brilliant blues eyes…

" _Nora?"_

" _Ruby?"_

Shaking her head slightly and blinking away the memory, she spoke, pausing between each word. "I believe…that you believe what you saw." She said opening her eyes to her friends frowning faces. "I'm not saying that I don't believe you!" she hastily added, raising a hand as a frowning Nora leaned forward. "I'm just saying I'm going to need more proof. It was the middle of battle, Ren might have only seen something out of the corner of his eyes and made assumptions." She finished, rubbing her face with one hand. She had a headache. She didn't know if it was from the combat injuries or the conversation she was having. Probably both.

Ren continued staring at her. He didn't manage to keep a hint of frustration from leaking into his expression", "Fine." He said stiffly, straightening up. "They're saying Jaune's aura has replenished enough to where it can start healing his injuries. Once he's awake he can tell you himself." He set the water bottle down on the small stand next to Pyrrha's bed and began to walk out.

"Our break's nearly over. We'll be searching Vale for grimm and survivors until later tonight. We'll come visit you when we get back. Try to get some more rest." Nora said, apologetically, giving Pyrrha a quick hug as she stood up as well.

"Ren…" Pyrrha trailed off, the boy too far away to hear her weak call.

Nora sighted. "No one's believes him and the others who saw aren't saying anything." She said quietly. She turned and gave Pyrrha a hug, being careful not to squeeze to hard. "He's just frustrated that no one's taking him seriously. Don't worry, I'll talk to him." The orange haired Valkyrie smiled at her bedridden teammate. "It is good to have you back with us." She turned around and followed Ren, jogging to catch up.

Pyrrha stared as the open flap gave a brief glimpse of a crowded Vale park before it fell back into place, cutting her off from the outside. She sighed and fell back onto the bed before she looked over at Yang's.

She was sprawled out on the mattress, a collection of pillows piled up so she was slightly reclined. The brawler halfheartedly raised a hand. "Welcome to team bedridden." She deadpanned. "Where it's crazy theories and overprotective teammates three times a day!"

"Your team's been protective of you?" Pyrrha asked, trying to distract herself from both her headache and the previous conversation.

"Totally," Yang replied, stretching her arms above her head, her eyes distant. "I mean seriously, I just got…knocked unconscious. Blake was stabbed and Ruby had to get you off the tower. You'd think they'd- "

"What?" Gasped Pyrrha, sitting up slightly to look at Yang. Blake stabbed? And Ruby-

 _Fire swirling around, the color throwing harsh light onto Ruby's cloak as the silver eyed girl looked worriedly down at her. The shadow of the dragon in the background._

More memories began popping up from the night, confusing, terrifying memories.

 _Ruby with tears in her eyes desperately clinging to her fallen friend's weapon. Ozpin roughly dismissing her and Nora as he engaged Cinder. Pain lancing up her leg as Cinder materialized a bow and arrow to kill her wi-_

Shaking off the memories, she sat up further, heart pounding, trying to stay focused on her immediate surroundings. The headache pounding against her skull. How had Ruby gotten her off the tower? It looked like it'd be awhile before she'd get to sleep off the headache. "Yang." Pyrrha started shakily, gathering her thoughts. She had no idea what had happened during that time. From fighting Penny to fighting Cinder. There were so many questions that she needed answer to.

"I need you to tell me everything you know about what happened that night."

* * *

"It was definitely the heat in the end."

Doctor Oobleck's voice was cold. Clinical. Wrong.

"It looks like the new Fall Maiden has an affinity for fire. We may be able to use that the help track her down. Look through the old databases maybe."

Then again, everything had gone wrong ever since the final round of the Vytal Festival. They should have listened to Yang. There was no way a well-meaning, if rambunctious girl like her would have lashed out like that.

"So, to recap, Beacon's experienced a miracle and has come out of the invasion with only one death. With over forty percent of our students suffering from severe injuries and aura exhaustion. We won't know how many will fully recover until they can receive full examinations. As for the visiting students… there's no real way to tell without access to Beacon's systems. We'll probably need to do a full headcount sometime lat-"

"Thank you Oobleck…" Glynda finally spoke cutting off his report as she, raised her head from her hands to make eye contact with her colleges across the table, cutting off his report.

They had been unable to debrief until days later after the establishment of the save zone. With the other faculty of Beacon quickly called to help assist in fighting the growing grimm population outside the Kingdom, it was left to Ozpin's inner circle to manage matters inside the Kingdom. Upon their arrival, Professor Port, and Doctor Oobleck had been put to work overseeing the students and the evacuation efforts; while Glynda worked with Ironwood and focused on Vale's security and reconstruction plan for the recovering Kingdom. Every single one of them was overworked, overstressed, and just plain tired. Each with a full plate of issues that required their full and immediate attentions.

Until now.

"I also want to thank the two of you for clearing out Beacon and rescuing the students," Glynda continued, trying to look anywhere but at the slightly burned cane laid out on the table in front of them all. The metal that previously made up the handle, warped and twisted.

This wasn't right. It was Ozpin who led these meetings. It was her job to take notes and look for potential issues in the plans, not to make them herself.

Professor Port smiled back, tears openly falling into his mustache as he poured himself another glass from the now half full bottle of brandy. To Glynda's shame, she had probably drunk more of the liquor than either of the two men in front of her.

Qrow would be proud.

"Of course, Glynda. We couldn't very well call ourselves professors of Beacon if we didn't get classrooms ready for our students." the man chuckled weakly as he rested an arm around his now quiet green haired colleague.

"M-moving on…" Glynda said, dabbing her eyes. "I've worked with Ironwood to get the students to work with the reinforcements to clear what remains of Vale and search for survivors. At the rate, they've been going the past few days, I expect the entire Kingdom to be clear by the end of the week."

Doctor Oobleck nodded weakly, "An excellent use of their desire to help." he said quietly. "With only a few areas in Beacon taking structural damage, we can move the students back into their dorms soon, allowing for the construction teams and reinforcements to set up where our students are now."

Glynda nodded and wrote down the suggestion. They had one bullhead out of Beacon's fleet that was fully operational. It would take several trips but it would be possible.

"The Cafeteria was destroyed by the fight between the giant grimm and the dragon." Port spoke up, taking a gulp of his drink. "We'll need to secure a way to provide food for the students before we move them in."

The three Professors signed, each one lost in their own thoughts as they tried to come up with a solution.

None came to them.

"We messed up." Oobleck said, causing the other two to look at him, "We had a duty as Professors of Beacon to protect our students and the people of Vale and we failed them. Someone not only broke through our defenses, but killed the Fall Maiden and our Headmaster, hacked the Atlas Military Defense Network, and did it all with all of Remnant watching." He summed up, slumping in his chair.

Glynda couldn't think of anything to say to help reassure her friend. They had failed. He hadn't said anything that wasn't true.

"Holy Shit... Keep this sad show going and I'll throw you outside the walls to stop the grimm from invading again."

And if she did have something to say, it most certainly would be anything but that.

Glynda's head shot up as Qrow Branwen stumbled into the tent. His beady eyes staring at the three of them, resting for a moment on the burned walking cane lying on the table. Not breaking stride, he sauntered over and picked up said cane, before giving it a few twirls.

"Hmm. Well balanced. I see why he didn't modify it…" he muttered.

"What are you doing here Qrow?" Slurred Professor Port, staggering to his feet. His face red.

"Easy, easy," Qrow replied, keeping a level voice as he took a seat at the table; Port following a moment later, scowl on his face. "I'm here for the same reason as you. Protecting Vale, fighting the Queen, and following Ozpin's orders."

"Ozpin's dead." Oobleck said bluntly, taking a sip of the brandy, his mug still giving it a light taste of coffee. "Killed by the new Fall Maiden."

"Ozpin's out of action." Qrow said, lifting a finger. "There's a difference between being knocked down and being taken out."

"We saw the body Qrow. Ozpin's gone."

Port and Oobleck stared at Qrow with confusion and annoyance as Qrow fiddled with Ozpin's staff. Glynda looked thoughtfully down into her glass, an old memory coming to the surface. It had been during one of their many conversations about the man's crazy gambits and tendency to leave himself as the only line of defense.

" _Oh, come now Glynda, you know me. Do you really think I'd just walk into such a situation without a trick or two up my sleeve?"_

"You know something" Glynda said, looking up at Qrow; the statement drew curious looks from her colleagues. "You know one of Ozpin's secrets." A new feeling was welling in her chest. It was pitifully weak but it was still there.

Hope.

The scythe wielding drunkard uncharacteristically smiled at her as he gingerly grabbed the bottle of brandy and moved it off the table. "Not really my secret to spill… I'll let Oz tell you himself when he catches up with us." Qrow said, before taking the half full bottle of branding to his lips and began to chug it.

Stunned silence echoed across the take as Qrow downed the entire bottle, slamming it back onto the table as he gasped for air.

"Woo. Now that's some good stuff. Not very strong. But good!" He said, examine the label on the bottle.

Eventually, Professor Port managed to speak, "S-so you're telling us t-that..."

"Yep" Qrow said, popping the p as he leaned back in the chair. "So, don't get too comfortable Headmistress Goodwitch," he said, shooting an amused look at the woman. "You may be in charge now but Oz will be back after a while to help run the more… interesting side of the job."

"Well thank you for your reassurance." Glynda replied dryly, as an enormous weight seemed to be lifted from her shoulders. Running a school for future Huntsmen she could handle. Fighting a shadow war, hidden from the rest of the world was a bit outside her skill set.

"But until then," Qrow said, sitting up straight, and taking a sip from his flask, "We'll need to act in his place and make sure it's all nice and neat for him to come back to. Which includes hunting down the pieces that staged this little attack."

Glynda scowled at the drunk trying to squash the small part of her that sagged with relief as Qrow took control of the situation. He was annoying, troublesome, and an alcoholic; but he worked with Ozpin far longer than her. He'd have a better idea of how to run things until Ozpin got back.

The small part of Glynda cheered.

"We've identified the voice from the broadcast as Cinder from Haven. A contestant from the festival. Coincidentally her teammate was the boy who had his legs broken. The first incident of the festival." Qrow said, sliding a scroll across the table, a smirking black hair girl staring up at them. Her eyes glowing against the pictures backdrop. Glynda scowled at the photo. So, this was their enemy. She had a few vague memories of passing her in the hallways around Beacon.

"What of the other two teammates?" Professor Port asked, his arms crossed as he tried to regain some dignity and sobriety to focus on the issue at hand. "Any idea where they are?"

Qrow shook his head as he took another sip from his flask. "Gone as far as I can tell. There's no sign of them here in the safe zone. Probably either blended in with the mob of people fleeing to Patch. That, or they had their own method of escape, same as the White Fang. I'd bring you pictures, but the Queen's virus had wrecked most of the data on the stadium servers. Faces, names, bios… all gone. Might be able to set a tech guy on the job, to recover a few details. I got this picture from one of the civilians that was recording during the fight. If was one of those five second videos. This was the only usable thing from it."

"I'll inform Ironwood and begin a search of Patch." Glynda said, her eyes lost in thought. "And if we can recover Ozpin's security system we may be able to find them on those records. Get their faces that way." She leaned in more to study the scroll, committing the name and face to memory. Cinder Fall… they would meet again.

"It would also be good to interview the students and civilians." Doctor Oobleck said, taking off his glasses to clean them, wearily. "They may have seen something and we may be able to track, not only them but also find out where the White Fang were doing during the attack." The man still looked shaken, but there was conviction in his voice as he placed the spectacles back on his face.

"And the Dragon." added Port, craning his neck to try and inspect the picture upside down. "We have a vague idea of what it did that night, but with any luck, we may at least get an idea of where it retreated to."

"Yeah… about that…" Qrow said quietly, turning to Glynda. "Did you tell them about what we recovered?"

Glynda sighed and turned up to look at the man. "Not yet," she said, moving some of her hair out of her face. She really needed to get it washed… "I was waiting until we were back in Beacon, away from prying eyes and ears." she explained, shooting an apologetic look towards her colleges.

Qrow grunted, turning away again. "Good call Goodwitch." He said, his eyes trailing along the sides of the tent, "You never know who might be listening. These tent walls are paper thin…"

Qrow then lept from his seat, drawing his sword and plunging it into the side of the tent, a surprise yelp sounded from the other side.

They were not alone.

* * *

 **AN: Cliffhanger! Splitting this one into two chapters. I had wanted to have chapter 5 get to Jaune's awakening but there was too many important things to cover. One of the tricky things of having a slight AU instead of a full AU is that I have to not only balance my plot points, but also the show's plot points. Which is kinda hard to do when the show is still ongoing. But progress marches forward. I'm currently in job training right now so for the next month or so I'll be adjusting to a new job, and slowly writing out chapter 6. Chapter 5 will be along once that's done.**

 **Until the next time!**


	5. What do we do if it Returns?

**AN:**

 **Eugh. Life you know? But writing finds a way. I think with my horrible work schedule this year, I'll be shooting for a chapter a month. That sounds fairly reasonable to me. Slow, but consistent. Anyways, Chapter 5! And the last chapter before… well… You'll see.**

 **Edited and Beta'd by Cruzerblade, Cr00cy and KAOS UNLEASHED**

 **On with the show!**

* * *

 **Chapter 5- ...What do we do if it returns?  
**

* * *

"-ent walls are paper thin."

Eye's widening, Emerald threw herself backwards letting out a yelp as she narrowly avoided the giant blade that mutilated the tent side. Not wanting to see what that blade could do to her, she turned and sprinted off in the opposite direction, trying to weave in between the chunks of rubble as she headed towards the edge of the safe zone. She had to get away, she couldn't get caught now, if she did who knew what they would do to her.

Her mind was racing, looking for something that could help her escape. She couldn't fight, she'd be overrun and surrounded in a second. Additionally her cover would be blown.

Not good.

She caught the sound footsteps and of a weapon being drawn behind her. One of them was coming. She needed a plan, fast.

Navigating through the safe zone she passed by tents and campfires, her mind searching desperately for anything that could help . Eventually it came to the conclusion that she needed to hide.

She could disguise herself. A homeless man? No, she'd be interrogated without any kind of identification to back up her story. An Atlas soldier? Again, no, If she gave the wrong rank and clearance she'd be outed in an instant. What to use, what to use…? Maybe if she picked …?

Her choice was made for her however as she turned down an ally and spotted a large hole in the wall. Just big enough for a person… perfect. Throwing herself into the hole, she activated her semblance and turned back, glowing eyes focused on the figure that had arrived at the entrance to the alleyway. It was a close thing. If he was quick enough he would have seen her before the illusion was raised.

It was the drunk. Ozpin's main dog outside of Beacon. She held her breath when he walked past, his eyes slowly scanned the alleyway as he continued past her, his large sword drawn and held loosely by his side. She flinched when his eyes trailed over the hole she was hidden in. He seemed to be staring directly into her eyes…

...

Before he moved on.

Staying still for several minutes after he passed by, Emerald quickly removed herself from the wall and darted off in the opposite direction, a cold sweat trailing down her back. This was more than she could have handled. They knew she was there and that she was spying on them. Worse, they already had her team identified. It wouldn't be long before her face was plastered on every wall in Vale. She was on the clock now. She needed to provide results before Ozpin's lackeys could find her and based off of what she heard that would be sooner rather than later..

When she found out a quiet alley she pulled out her scroll and sent a message off to Cinder.

 _Goodwitch new Headmistress of Beacon. Ozpin had some failsafe for his death. They know I'm here and our faces. Interviewing students and civilians for general information about us. Cover likely blown. 40% Severely injured, no beacon student deaths. Staff knows something about the dragon. Request instructions about my cover. Not sure how long I can stay here. E._

She sent the message and waited, glancing nervously around as she waited for a reply. Even with the dragon gone this was a tight situation. The Festival was supposed to be their finishing blow. Their moment of triumph. While the Fall Maiden powers now belonged to them, Vale had clinged to life, capitalizing on the opportunity the dragon gave them to fight back. They would be on guard going forward…everyone would be. If you add on the fact that the dragon proved that it could survive Cinder's arrow… she shivered.

A sharp Ding! broke her thoughts as she quickly opened her scroll to read the reply.

She blinked and read it again.

She hummed. _"That could work"._

* * *

"Freedom!" Cried out Yang as she burst through the tent flaps, rolling her arms in their sockets as her eyes explored the landscape in front of tent, taking in the Vale 'safe zone'. It wasn't that safe in Yang's opinion. There was a park acting as the center, "barriers" were erected in the form of collapsed buildings and roads. All alongside the road and inside the shops, people huddled, tents and bedding spread out. To Yang, it looked as though a large chunk of the Vale population had suddenly decided to live like the homeless.

" _Probably because most of them are now…"_ thought Yang as she turned, trying to spot her team.

Despite the gloomy setting, Yang grinned as she began walking, still riding the emotional high from the news Professor Port had brought her.

She wasn't at fault. Mercury was one of the bad guys.

She wasn't a monster.

The simple fact repeated in her mind, with more joy and excitement each time. There had been some kind of interference at the end to sabotage her. Granted, it was still cause for concern that they were somehow able to alter everyone's perception of the fight, either to her or everyone watching. But the simple knowledge that she was justified in defending herself and not a loose cannon like the media had claimed took a large weight off her shoulders that she had been carrying since that day.

It felt good. No, it felt great! It felt-

Wait, was someone calling her name?

The only warning, she got was a glimpse of some rose petals and an increasingly loud "Yaaaang!" before she was suddenly tacked to the ground, her sister's momentum catching her off guard.

"Hey Rubes." Yang said quietly with a smile, ruffling her little sister's hair. No matter how mature she tried to act in front of their team, she was still Yang's little sister.

"Ah hum." Weiss said, clearing her throat.

Yang's little sister who'd still try to act mature when caught red handed.

"So…" Ruby coughed, climbing off Yang, and brushing down her clothes nonchalantly, pointedly avoiding Weiss's gaze. "How do you feel? Did the doctors say you're okay?"

Yang grinned and pulled Ruby into a headlock, ignoring the surprised yelp. "Clean bill! All healed up and ready for action!" She said as she dug her knuckles into her sister's hair.

"Great." Blake said, stepping forward and disregarding her whining leader trapped in her partner's arms. "We still have one more day of surveying left before they begin moving the students back into Beacon. It'll be good to have you back."

"Surveying? Eugh. Sound's boring." Groaned Yang, switching Ruby into the other arm and holding her there. "What're you actually doing? Anything fun?"

"Weiss… Help me!" Ruby gasped, her arms waving frantically as she tried to escape.

"Clearing the area of grimm and checking for any survivors." Weiss said, as she eyed Ruby's predicament with amusement.

"Found anything interesting?"

"We've come across a couple grimm. And one or two survivors…"

Yang frowned and squeezed down or Ruby, turning the chokehold into a tight hug.

Around her neck.

It was full of love.

"Anything…?" Yang started, sighing in relief as Blake automatically shaking her head, knowing what the blond was trying to ask. If they were surveying parts of a city attacked by grimm, there was a high chance that there would have been casualties. Bodies. That Ruby would have to see and deal with. Team RWBY must have been extremely lucky to have not come across any. Yang was shaken from the dark thoughts as Ruby groaned and struggled harder.

"I-it's going dark!" Ruby whispered, going slack in her sister's arms. "Tell Zweiiii…I…"

With a sigh, Yang opened her arms and let Ruby fall to the ground, letting out an 'oof" as she collapsed.

"Freedom!" Cried Ruby as she shot to her feet, her chest heaving as she backed away from her sister. "So anyways! Congratulations for getting out of the medical tent!" She cried awkwardly, throwing her hands up in the air before lowering them. "We were going to get you a card but…"

"The card shop was destroyed." Finished Weiss. "One of the Atlas airships landed on it."

"I appreciate the sentiment." Yang said dryly before clapping her hands together. "So, what's the word on the street about the dragon thingy? Any new news? Juicy rumors? Overblown stories? Tell me!" Yang said, leaning in with a grin.

To her surprise, her team tensed. Weiss becoming very interested in the ground as the Blake suddenly decided to examine the sky, both expressions tight. Oblivious to the others, Ruby stepped forward, a confused expression on her face.

"Didn't Ren tell you what he saw?" Ruby asked hesitantly, her eyes checking briefly for eavesdroppers before returning to Yang, her voice lowered. "About Jaune being the D... R…A"

"Pssssh. Yeah right." Yang interrupted, "There's no way Vomit Boy could somehow be a dragon. Not even semblances would allow for that kind of jump in power. Ren must have hit his head a bit too hard" She continued, chuckling.

"But…Nora was able to ride him and he didn't try to kick h- "

"Ruby," Yang interrupted again, "Nora rode a Ursa during initiation. And from the rumors in the medical ward, the thing didn't attack anyone else during the fighting either."

"It's true," Blake said, stepping into the conversation as Ruby fell silent, mulling over her sister's words. "Some of the civilians were talking about how it saved them from the grimm down here in Vale. It doesn't hurt humans or faunus."

Weiss chimed in as well, "It probably didn't do anything to her because they were so high up. If they were lower, it probably would have knocked her off."

"But then why did it save me and Pyrrha?" Ruby asked, rubbing her head with both hands. It doesn't make any sense."

"Probably because- "Yang started, only for a dispassionate voice to speak up behind her.

"Because Ruby" Ren said, "Nora told Jaune where to go."

Yang jumped up, swearing quietly as she turned towards Ren, hastily putting a smile on her face. "Ren! Hi! Glad to see Goodwich let you go. Erm… how's the head?" She asked quickly, wincing at his deadpanned stare.

"It's fine." Ren said before shifting his focus from the older sister to the younger. "Ruby, the Professor's set up an interview room for the students to track where everyone was that night. Professor Goodwitch asked me to get you. She's finishing Nora's and Pyrrha's interview now."

"O-oh." Ruby stammered, eyes hovering on her sister. "Okay… Like right now now? Or- "

"It's fine Ruby," Yang said, pulling her sister into a side hug. "I'm starving. Let me grab some dinner with Weiss and Blake and we'll catch up after your little interview."

Ruby didn't say anything but tightened her own arms before stepping away with smile on her face. "Sounds like a plan!" She chirped before turning to Ren. "Lead the way!"

As the two walked away, Yang watched them go with a smile on her face. She didn't see that side of Ruby as much nowadays. The quiet little girl who needed her big sister to be with her everywhere on Patch. It was both nostalgic, and painful, to see it come up now. The last time she had seen Ruby this was was most likely the last anniversary of their mother's death.

"She really missed you." Blake said quietly behind her. "She kept on trying to visit when we heard you woke up but we had just gotten our assignments."

Instead of replying, Yang just grinned as she turned around before clapping both Weiss and Blake's on the shoulder. "So! Food! What's on the menu?"

"Atlas Rations, and cafeteria food from the nearest high school." Weiss said flatly. Her nose involuntary scrunching by the mere mention of what they had to eat.

"…Aw man. Really?"

"It's Tuna Casserole today if it helps."

"Blake…no."

"Suit yourself."

* * *

"Miss Valkyrie."

"And when you think about it, it probably explains why he's so afraid of bugs. I mean, when you're a giant dragon you probably don't notice the tiny little things. So, seeing them up close and so much bigger? I mean I would be freaked out if bugs were suddenly the size of my- "

"Miss Valkyrie."

"-then you have spiders! And do not get me started on- "

"Nora!"

Nora stopped talking, blinking as she looked at Professor Goodwitch quizzically. "Yes Professor?" she asked.

"Thank you for... 'detailing' where you were that night. If I have any further questions I'll send someone to collect you. Could you please send in Miss Nikos when you leave?" Asked a frazzled Professor Goodwitch.

Nora beamed widely as she stood up, a spring in her step as she pushed in her chair. "Of course!" she chirped as she opened the door. "It was great talking to you, teach!"

The door closed and there was silence.

Blessed silence.

Professor Goodwitch sighed as she looked over her notes, a small frown on her face. Nora Valkyrie's testimony had been incredibly valuable. Filling a lot of the gaps and questions surrounding Pyrrha, the Dragon, and Ozpin's actions that night. Cinder had used the Fall Maidens power to kill Ozpin and wound the dragon. And…

Goodwitch scrolled up, highlighting a particular part of her notes.

 _I thought he was going to go after her, but Jaune-y was really focused on the grimm dragon! I mean now I know it was because he went all dragon to fight it but at the time I was very confused!_

Professor Goodwitch hummed, lost in thought as she mulled over the words. If it was true, then it crossed out unwilling transformation or some outside power… it was something that Jaune Arc could activate himself...

"Uh… Professor Goodwitch? You said you wanted to see me?"

A nervous redhead stared at her from the doorway. Crutches under each arm.

"Ah yes, Ms. Nikos, please take a seat." Professor Goodwitch said, standing up to pull out the chair, helping her student into her seat before returning to her own. "Now we are interviewing all the other students as well, but first I'd like to talk to you about what you saw that night. Where you were, what you did, that sort of thing."

"Of course."

Pyrrha nodded stiffly, her eyes fixed on the wall behind the professor's head. Professor Goodwitch frowned and leaned forward, "Are you oka-"

"I'm sorry!" burst Pyrrha as she threw her head into her arms, tears immediately pouring down her face. "It's all my fault! It's my fault Professor Ozpin died, my fault that Cinder got the Fall Maiden powers and the entire things my fault because I k-k-killed Pe-"

She cut off as two arms slid around her neck and pulled her into a tight hug. Held somewhat awkwardly, she continued to sit in her chair, Professor Goodwitch crouched beside her. When had she gotten out of her chair?

"Pyrrha." Professor Goodwitch said quietly, as she slowly stroked the girl's red hair. "What happened was not in any way your fault. If anything, the blame falls to us professors, both for laying such a heavy burden on you, and for allowing the situation to end up as it did."

She held the hug for a moment longer before breaking it, staring into her student's eyes, taking note of the stress and pure exhaustion that laid in her puffy eyes. "The timing was too coincidental between the accident between you and Ms. Polendina in the arena and the broadcast. They probably influenced one of you during the fight. We are already investigating the issue. Professor Ozpin was a certified Huntsman and he most certainly knew the risks in fighting the Fall Maiden. You did nothing but what you were told. None of what happened was because of you and no one blames you."

Pyrrha sniffled as she stared back, desperately taking in the warmth and comforting tone her normally straight laced professor spoke with.

"…Thank you." Pyrrha said quietly, wiping her eyes as Professor Goodwitch moved back to take her seat on the opposite side of the table. She made a note to send for some tissues later.

"Now, Ms. Valkyrie has done an adequate job of describing what happened in the basement, however she wasn't with you and Cinder at the top of Beacon Tower. If perhaps you can start when you first left Ms. Valkyrie at the base of the tower?"

Pyrrha nodded and closed her eyes, thinking back to the night. "I had used my semblance to help bring the elevator to the top of the tower. In O-ozpin's office. I tried to attack as soon as I got there but… "

"But…?" Glynda asked, leaning in slightly. Her interest only seemed to make it worse as Pyrrha slumped in her seat.

"I was pathetic." Pyrrha said, eyes downcast. "She was able to counter everything I had. A couple time's I thought I had her… but it was a cake walk for her to break free. She had the power of the Fall Maiden…" Her voice trailed off as her mind revisited the fight. The ease of which she was disarmed and crippled. For all her fame as the 'invincible girl' she hadn't be able to deal any lasting damage to her enemy. "I was useless." She whispered. "It was barely even five minutes before she had me disarmed, injured and half-dead at her feet."

"I highly doubt that you were useless Ms. Nikos." Professor Goodwitch said, making a note on her scroll before looking up. "And was that when the dragon arrived?"

The dragon. A golden behemoth that stretched into the sky, making Pyrrha look like some goldfish next to a great white shark. One of the last things she saw before falling unconscious that night. A beast that Ren claimed…

"Professor?" Asked Pyrrha, leaning forward, her tears nearly dry. "What was that dragon? Where'd it come from and what'd it do? Ren said..."

Professor Goodwitch coughed, interrupting her. "I am aware of what Mr. Lie Ren is claiming. And that particular idea is being…investigated. What I can tell you is the creature appeared roughly two hours into the night and spent the entire night fighting Grimm and Atlas robots. Apparently it also helped stem the flow of grimm into the Kingdom. We've yet to assign a single human or faunus casualty to the dragon and for whatever reason, it came to your rescue that night on the tower. That's partially what these interviews are for. To compile a report on the creature's actions through organized accounts."

Pyrrha nodded to herself, lost in thought.

"However," Professor Goodwitch continued. " if we could get back to the subject at hand. I have a few questions about Cinder's fighting style. Her weapon if she had one. She didn't seem to be armed during her time in the festival.

"Oh I'm sorry! She used some kind of bow and arrow that she could…"

As Professor Goodwitch took down her notes, she sighed with relief internally. When they had first agreed to organize these interviews, she had been wary that the students would interpret them as interrogations and try to hide details from the Professors. It was a fortunate that most were mature enough to recognize the interviews for what they were.

* * *

Professor Goodwitch sighed as she reviewed her notes, Ruby Rose fidgeting in the chair across from her. Eyes nervous.

"And you didn't see where Roman's companion ended up?" the Professor asked, causing the small girl to start.

"Oh! No! She fell off the airship. So, I couldn't really see where she ended up. Because she fell." Ruby said, chuckling weakly. She was fine. This was okay. Professor Goodwitch was just asking what happened and what she did. Nothing too serious. And she didn't go into too much detail at the end. Only saying that she and Nora had arrived at the top of the tower at the same time of the dragon. The professor didn't really need to know that Nora had been riding the dragon. It wasn't like she was in trouble or anything. Or was she? Did it count as trespassing when she landed on the Atlas Flagship? But it was an emergency… It was fine! Probably. Besides she had nothing to hide! Just as long as the Professor didn't ask about the dragon. She needed to protect-

"Tell me about the dragon. When did you first see it?"

Ah cookie crumbs.

"Erm… ahhhh…" Ruby trailed off, stalling for time, her eyes wide. "…no."

The blond woman looked up from her notes to send a flat look across the stable to her student.

"No?"

"No."

"The first time you saw the dragon was 'no'?"

"Yes. Erm… no. Kinda? I mean I didn't really see it on the airship! With the Grimm flying around and trying stop Torchwick and- "

Professor Goodwitch sighed.

"Ruby," she cut across, stopping the stream of excuses. "Did Lie Ren perhaps tell you what he saw that night."

Ruby flinched and pulled her cloak tighter around her form. Good job Ruby. You fail at interrogations 101.

"Yes." She said quietly, staring down at the table.

Professor Goodwitch set aside her notes fixing her with an unreadable expression.

"Do you believe him?"

Ruby leaned forward to reply, but Goodwitch continued, speaking over her.

"Do you believe that your friend, Jaune Arc was able to transform into a creature of legend and fight the grimm? Why?"

Ruby opened her mouth…and closed it.

"I want to believe it." She said after a while. "Being friends with a giant dragon sounds like it'd be fun and cool… but… with Jaune…"

"He doesn't really fit the dragon archetype, does he?" Professor Goodwitch said, a small smile on her face.

"No." Ruby chuckled, "He's brave and funny and good… but I can't see him as a dragon…"

Professor Goodwitch hummed and leaned back, an unreadable expression on her face.

"Let's go back a little bit in your account. To when you say you saw Mercury in the maintenance corridor. Did you see where he went afterwards?" the older woman asked, her eyes staring intently at Ruby.

"Oh…no." Ruby said quietly, "That was when… Pyrrha…um…"

"When Miss Nikos killed Ms. Polandia?" Completed Professor Goodwitch, leaning forward.

Ruby nodded.

"Where afterwards the broadcast started, causing all sorts of chaos." Added Professor Goodwitch as she wrote down another note.

Ruby nodded again and then spoke, her voice quiet. "Erm… about Penny…did she maybe have a backup memory? Or… some kind of spare body? Or… " she trailed off awkwardly, looking at her Professor with uncertain silver eyes.

Professor Goodwitch paused for a moment. "I wouldn't know." She said eventually. "General Ironwood had her remains sent back to Atlas."

"O-oh…" Ruby said, her glassy eyes dropping to the table, trying to hold back tears. "O-okay."

Professor Goodwitch considered the small girl and contemplated just how much difference two years can make. "I'll ask him next time I see him."

Ruby appeared to not respond, before a quiet "Thank you," reached the older woman's ears.

"Your Welcome, Ms. Rose. You can go now. If I have further questions, I'll send word to your room tomorrow." She eventually said, standing up and taking her scroll from the table.

Ruby sighed in relief before perking up, a detail standing out to the girl, "So the rumors are true that we're going back to Beacon tomorrow?"

Professor Goodwitch let loose a rare smile and left the Room, the young team leader calling after her.

"Is that a yes?"

Professor Goodwitch smiled to herself as she reviewed her notes as she walked. Although she still needed to interview several more students after lunch, it was going far more smoothly than she had hoped. Briefly, she wondered how Peter and Bartholomew were doing.

* * *

"And that's when the giant lizard appeared." Coco Adel finished, leaning back in her chair a bored look on her face. She understood why she was there but it was just so…boring. Everything the past couple of days had been boring. Surveying, errand running, and now interviews.

Boring.

Professor Port blinked as she paused in his note taking to glance quizzically at the brown-haired girl. "Appeared?"

"Yep." Coco said, popping the P as she continued to stare aimlessly at the ceiling of the converted interviewing room. What was this place before it was repurposed? An office building? No, not with that wall color. "One second fighting grimm and Atlas Paladins, next second, giant dragon standing over us."

"And…" Professor Port paused. "Nothing stood out about the dragon? You didn't see where it came from or how it appeared?"

Coco shook her head, her eyes drifting to the table. "It was the middle of a warzone. I was more focused on my downed teammate. It probably dropped down on us or something."

" _This was a nice table. Maybe ir came from a nail salon?"_

"It dropped down on you." The mustached man said flatly, her tone drawing Coco's attention away from the rooms furniture.

"The Atlas Robots had turned on us, the White Fang was ferrying in Grimm, a fucking grimm dragon was flying around our heads and we had been fighting non-stop for two hours." Coco said, enunciating each point with a raised finger, an intense gaze aimed at her professor.

"Forgive me for having other priorities."

There was a quiet pause as Coco continued to glare into Professor Port's face. The man staring awkwardly back before…

"W-well then! If you could continue with your erm… account of the night?"

Coco sat back with a huff as she crossed her arms. "Whatever," she grunted. "After the lizard arrived it…"

As she continued to recount the night's events, Coco's mind drifted back to the rooms furniture. She was almost sure that the room they were in used to be some kind of boutique.

* * *

"I tried to carry h-him." The girl sobbed into her hands, dark blue hair cut into a bob covering her face. "B-but we were moving so s-s-slow and t-that's w-when…"

Professor Oobleck frowned as he continued to rub her back. Sympathetically. "That's when the grimm caught up?"

"A griffon just swooped in." The girl wailed, tears falling down her face. "I couldn't even get out my weapon before he was gone! I'm a terrible teammate!"

Oobleck sighed as he continued to rub the poor girl's back, his mind wandering to similar moments in his career. It came with the job, but it was always hard consoling survivors after they've lost teammates… or in this tragic case, after they lost their entire team. Beacon was going to be in hot water once Haven Academy found out.

"A-and n-now I n-need to go back h-home and t-tell them what h-happened! N-not even a body to bury!"

"Please rest assured Sapphire that you won't have to go through this alone. Until you can get back home, the people at Beacon are here for you."

Slowly, the green hair professor continued to rub the girl's back. Her sobs subsided and ended. Before finally, she looked up at Oobleck, tears still running down her face.

"Thank you." Emerald said, offering a watery smile at the professor. Her eyes unusually bright.

Walking out of the interview room, Emerald sighed and ran a hand through her now blue hair. She had liked her own natural hair color. Blue contrasted horribly with her skin. But this was probably for the best… with a new hair color in a new hairstyle with a new outfit, all she had to do was use her semblance to slightly change her face whenever someone got too close. If Cinder properly altered the school records and she kept to herself, she shouldn't be detected for several weeks. Unless she was sloppy. Emerald was never sloppy.

Oh… that sounded bad…

Cringing at her own thought, she pulled out her scroll and sent a quick message to Cinder, hoping that her and Mercury were still close enough to Vale to get the message. With the CCT down, scroll calls had limited range. With luck, it would get through. But if not…

Her musings were interrupted as her scroll buzzed, a reply immediately arriving on her scroll. Taping on the envelope icon, she opened the message and started to read.

" _This scroll number is going dark after this message._

 _E, good work. Me and Mercury will be removed from play in Vale. You are to maintain your position in Beacon and act as eyes and ears. Back up and your new contact will come with the reinforcements from Minstrel. His name is Doctor Arthur Watts. Follow his instructions to the letter and don't forget the Doctor part. He's very particular about his title. He has your number. Standby for further instructions. C"_

Almost the second Emerald finished reading the message, there was another notification as an another one arrived. Unknown number, the profile picture being a simple 'W'. She swallowed slightly. She had followed Cinder for years without hesitation. To work under someone else she didn't know… she opened the message with trepidation…

And began reading her new instructions.

* * *

Glynda wearily eyed the tent and its guards her mouth in a thin line. Ever since Qrow lost their eavesdropper, she and Ironwood had moved the surviving Atlas forces to security duty. The men and women were eager to try and save face for their disastrous performance during the festival and had taken to the job with an almost fanatic passion, scrutinizing any and all passersby with extreme suspicion. Glynda had had to personally verify the identities of three students for the Atlas security guards to release them. She could understand why they were so rigid, but it raised one additional issue to solve onto of an ever-growing pile.

She was just one woman after all. She couldn't be everywhere at once.

"Glynda Goodwitch to visit General Ironwood." She stated, as she stowed her scroll to the guards as they leaned in for a closer look.

"Cleared." One of them said after a moment. "Apologies Professor Goodwitch but General Ironwood is currently meeting with the Council of Vale. He requested no interruptions until it has concluded."

Glynda sighed, "Could you at least let him know that I'm here?" Ever since their initial meeting to establish roles and priorities she had hardly seen the general. Both of them were preoccupied with the issues that came with a ruined Kingdom. Messengers and hastily scrawled notes had been the only interaction that the two had had in the last week and a half.

The guard considered the request for a moment, before nodding and disappearing into the tent. Leaving her with the other Atlas soldier.

Glynda sighed and crossed her arms shifting the folders she was holding to one side. They needed to meet in person at least one last time before she and the rest of Beacons faculty and students were moved back into school. Once she was in Beacon, it'd likely be months later before before the two could talk to each other again. And some things needed to be talked about.

After a minute or two, the soldier returned, "He's still in the meeting but he says that you can come in." The guard said gruffly, taking their original space in front of the tent. Turning their attention to everyone else passing by the tent.

Glynda passed by, ducking her head to enter the tent. The second she entered, paper filled her view. Paper printed maps, paper notes stickied and hung on other pieces of paper. Strung from string and pinned to bulletin boards.

"Ironwood? Are you in here?"

A metallic hand wearily raised itself above a bulletin board, before sinking down, indicating where the man was in the mess.

As she approached, quiet mutterings became audible as the General came into view.

"Yes sir. Of course, sir. We'll be ready for their arrival. Be sure to let me know if there's anything I can do- "

The general cut off, looking at his scroll briefly before pocketing it and rubbing a hand across his face. Ironwood was a mess. Although his appearance was were immaculate as usual his face told a much more different story. Black bags laid under his eyes and slight stubble lined his face. He wearily reached for a cup of coffee. Expertly navigating the mess on the table to grab said mug without even looking

"Glynda… It's good to see you." The general said wearily as he took a deep swig of his brew. "How are the students doing?"

"No casualties." Glynda replied, examining some of the papers on the table between the two. Damage reports and witness reports. Profiles detailing the grimm and White Fang movements during the crisis. Estimated cost of repairs for the different sections of the Kingdom. "A lot of them are going to be bedridden for the next few weeks and a couple may need to give up on being a huntsman, but no deaths. A miracle all things considering."

General Ironwood seemed to collapse with relief, gripping his mug tightly as he took another deep drink. "That's good" he gasped, "They're too young to be brought into something like this." He nodded to himself. His eyes distant.

"I brought you a report." Glynda said, raising the folder in her hand before placing in on the desk in front of him. "Highlights from the interviews with the students. Detailing White Fang movement, a couple more details about Cinder, Emerald, Mercury, and Mint and a report detailing the more severe injuries."

"That's good… that's very good." The man said, distractedly as he opened the folder and began to read the pages.

Glynda looker over at him with concern. She had only seen the general like this once before, Mountain Glenn. When he had lost his entire team. To see this look again...

"How many died?" she asked quietly.

General stiffed and set down his mug, his stormy eyes refusing to look at her.

"Seventy." He rasped out.

"That died? Or…?"

"Percent."

"God… James…"

"It was my idea you know," he said, talking over her. "Have the Paladins leading the charge while the robots gave cover from the back, additional suppressing fire. A perfect platoon to minimize casualties and to allow for maximum efficiency… Instead it turned into a death trap the moment the virus took effect. They had no chance." He cut off, clearing his throat loudly as he picked up a paper from the desk.

"Even after…" he continued, grabbing a pen to scribble something down before reaching for another sheet of paper. "The surviving troops did their job and helped get most of the citizens to the safe zone… but without support from the airships… they had limited ammo and limited information…"

Glynda moved forward to rest a hand on his shoulder. Gripping it tightly. "What have they said?" She asked. Ironwood didn't ask her to clarify.

"They're letting me keep the school." He replied dully, his eyes still locked onto the paper. "But I'm out of favors with the Atlas Council. Anything more and I'll probably be removed from power. If I keep my head down for the next few years and go along with some of the council proposals I'll probably get back my influence. But anything sooner…" The paper crumpled in his hand as he tried to casually set it down. "My replacement as Atlas's leader of troops in Vale will be here with the reinforcements from Mistral and Vacuo. I'm afraid I won't be of much use to Oz- "He paused, swallowing before continuing. "Be of much use to you going forward."

Glynda stood there, mind racing to find some kind of reassurance she could give the man. Any kind of comfort. "How's the clean-up effort going?" she asked, trying to stall for more time.

General Ironwood sighed and moved onto another sheet, not pausing in his pace. "Fantastic, all things considering. We have construction teams being assembled and once the roads are repaired, we'll be able to allocate resources to the most damaged areas. Starting at the walls and moving inwards."

"That's good" Glynda said, "Do they have a time frame for- James what is it?"

The General had froze, paper dropping from his hand as he turned towards the Beacon Professor. "Glynda… this report holds no mention of the creature." he said slowly, causing Glynda to freeze.

The two stood there, footsteps of people moving throughout the safezone outside the tent only sound that could be heard. Before finally, Glynda spoke.

"Your right." Glynda said. Rubbing her face with one hand. "We thou-"

"Don't shut me out!" Ironwood shouted. "I know it was my mistakes that led to this and that I played into their hands! But I need to know! I can't just be-" He took a deep breath, trying to calm his suddenly racing heart as he looked at Glynda, at her tense form and her hand on her wand. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before letting it out in a long slow hiss.

General Ironwood looked up at Glynda, a desperate broken look in his eyes. "Please… don't shut me out of this." He asked quietly.

Glynda stood there, observing the man, taking in the bags under his eyes and his ruffled clothes. "When did you last sleep?" she asked.

"When was Sunday?" The general countered, standing up to move closer to Glynda. "Listen…"

"Like I was saying…" Glynda continued, cutting off the man. "We thought it would be best if we debriefed you in person at a more secure location. To properly discuss what we learned."

General Ironwood didn't speak for several moments, his face turning slightly red as he sat back down. Coughing, he turned back to the report, picking up where he left off.

"So… You're not going to-"

"No."

"And so I was just-"

"Yes."

"And you really weren't going to-"

"James."

"…sorry… and thank you Glynda."

"Of course. Now get some sleep James. You're no good to anyone like this."

* * *

"Ren, was his room 203 or 230?"

"203 I believe."

"Hey guys! I think I found him!"

"Nora! You can't just yell in the medical ward. There are people trying to rest here."

As Ren, Nora and Pyrrha slowly made their way through Beacon's Medical Ward, a tight feeling began to well up in Ren's chest. It had been a full two weeks since that night. Two weeks since the White Fang had made their attack against Vale and Professor Ozpin has spirited Pyrrha away for a reason that the girl still wouldn't explain to them. Two weeks since last time he saw Jaune.

Two weeks since he saw his friend and team leader had turn into a dragon.

And now they were about to visit his hospital room.

Would he look the same? Would remnants of his transformation be apparent? Pointed canines and draconic eyes? Could he breathe fire as a human? How did he have the ability? How did he physically change?

Would he explain it to them?

All these questions in Ren's head spurred him on as he quickly followed Nora, eager to get to the room so he could...could…

Do what?

"Ren, could you slow down a little?" Pyrrha called, limping after him, her crutches allready replaced by a giant cast supported by a medical boot. Ren grimaced to himself and slowed down, waiting for his teammate. Further down the hall, Nora turned in and opened the door, the first of team JNPR to enter.

"Sorry," He said as Pyrrha caught up to him. "It's just…"

Pyrrha nodded, offering a small smile, "I know." she replied, the two of them falling into step down the hall.

After Pyrrha's refusal to take Ren's word, they had fallen into an odd limbo. Not the relaxed silence that accompanied them during the school year, but a tense, questionable one. Both agreeing to not address the elephant in the room until Jaune was awake, to either confirm Ren's claims or dismiss them.

Ren reached the door first, holding it open for Pyrrha as she passed through, a grateful look on her face. Ren followed in behind, closing his eyes briefly. This is it. He told himself. First time seeing Jaune after that night.

Ren opened his eyes and looked at his friend.

Jaune looked...normal.

Only a few bandages coated his arms and legs now with an IV inserted into his arm. He laid peacefully on the bed, his breathing stable. If Ren didn't know better, Jaune looked like he had just been sleeping after a long day of training with Pyrrha. No battle for the fate of Vale. No dragon transformation and no fangs peeking out the boys lips or scales coating his skin. He looked, normal.

Ren let out a slow breath and walked over to take a seat next to Nora who had picked up a medical chart on the desk next to Jaune. "He's stable." she told them as she leanned back in the chair. "His aura's been channeled directly into healing his wounds so he hasn't had time to actually replenish his reserves. They estimate a few more days before he wakes up." she said, scanning further down the page.

Across the room, Pyrrha let out a breath as she pulled a chair closer to the bed, her eyes still locked onto her teammate. "What were the injuries?" she asked quietly.

"Burns all across his back, a stab wound in his left shoulder, bite marks on his neck, lot's of blood loss, several minor cuts and bruises." Nora read off, setting down the clipboard to observe her friend. "Good going fearless leader." she said with a smile. "Glad to see you're okay."

The three of them sat together, a comfortable silence falling over them. Finally they were all back together in the same room. It felt right, in a way that seemed to remove stress that the three of them hadn't even realized they had been carrying until that moment.

As Nora leaned back to rest against Ren, Pyrrha grabbed Jaune's hand to lightly brush her fingers across his knuckles, Ren considered Jaune, taking in his unconscious form. He looked small in the hospital bed… With questions still needing to be answered, the pink haired boy had to admit that it was incredibly reassuring to see his friend safe and away from danger.

He looked out the window aimlessly, unwittingly meeting the gaze of a crow that had landed on the windowsill. Things were beginning to look up. They were back at Beacon, all four of them were together again. Now all they had to do was wait for Jaune to wake up…

And explain himself.

"Kaww…"

* * *

 **AN: And now it's finally time. The stage is set, the spotlights there. All that we need now is Jaune Arc. Please enter, Stage Left.  
**

 **Oh and don't forget to drop a review! Now that we've passed 100, I'm going to start looking for some actual art for the cover.**


	6. Wait, So the Dragon is?

**AN:**

 **Man, the new season of RWBYs bringing so much good stuff! I'm loving the new backgrounds and also just the great world-building we're getting. What it's also bringing is a couple revisions as we learn a little more about different characters. But such is the joy of fanfiction to an ongoing series. You write what you have and believe and then you desperately try to fill plot holes that show up. Anyways...**

 ** **Edited and Beta'd by Cruzerblade, Cr00cy and KAOS UNLEASHED****

 ** **On with the show!****

* * *

 **Chapter 6- Wait so the Dragon is...?  
**

* * *

"I still don't understand why it has to be us here during lunch." Weiss huffed, pacing back and forth in front of the bed.

"Nora and Ren are assigned to kitchen duty and since the elevator isn't working, Pyrrha's won't be here until she finishes getting her boot off." Yang replied, stretching her arms above her head as she stared up at the tiles in the room. " And with Ruby visiting the weapons smith to pick up Pyrrha's replacement weapons, we're the only ones available to check up on him during Lunch," Yang said, leaning back in the chair she had settled in to.

"The hospital's already going to call for them once he wakes up, why do we need to be here. And why me specifically?" Weiss said with a huff, stopping her pacing to glare at the low energy blond.

"Because Ren and Nora are convinced he has 'dragon enemies', and Ruby's new buddy rule."

Yang replied dully as she pulled out her scroll and began to fidget with the screen.

Weiss grunted as she sat into a chair and crossed her arms. Ruby's "buddy rule". A surprisingly ironclad new rule put in place by their diminutive team leader. Until Vale and Beacon were repaired and secured, none of Team RWBY could go anywhere unaccompanied. Despite their many objections Ruby had remained steadfast, a firm resolve behind her silver eyes.

Weiss let out a sigh as her frustration slowly dissipated. She couldn't really blame her leader.

Although they had come out of the attack relatively unscathed, they had way too many close calls. Adam Taurus, leader of the White Fang, nearly killing Blake. Yang caught in a battle between two large dragons. Even Weiss - when she tried to parry the Paladin's attack. They all had close calls. It was some mixture of luck and random chance that had allowed them all to be successfully reunited afterwards.

It made sense Ruby wanted them to have backup going forward.

"Still… Ruby could at least let us grab lunch beforehand." She said, any heat in her voice gone.

Yang grunted as she continued to stare at her scroll. The quiet beep of the heart monitor the only sound in the room.

"…uby."

"Hmm?" Asked Yang, looking up from the scroll. "Did you say something Weiss?"

Weiss didn't reply, her eyes locked on the motionless form in the bed her mouth open. Yang looked too. Nothing seemed to have changed-

Wait.

Yang closed her scroll and leaned forward. Behind many of the bandages and the cotton sheets, Jaune's eyes were open.

"He's awake!" Said Weiss, jumping out of her seat. She stood there for a moment, as though forgetting why it was so significant before bolting to the door. "I'll get the nurse!" she called over her shoulder as she ran out of the room.

Yang stood there, still staring at the door Weiss left through, uncertain of what to say to Jaune. What did you say when someone comes out of a coma? Is it even good to talk to them before a nurse clears it with them? Just what…?

"-ang?"

The raspy voice filled the silence, drawing Yang's eyes to his face. Jaune's eyes were…confused and… panicked?

"Nora? Py…" Jaune started, cutting off as coughing racked his body. The heart rate monitor spiking slightly.

As his coughing began to die down, so did Yang's panic. A scared friend was a lot easier to deal with than a coma patient.

"They're all safe" She said, turning on her scroll and began to type out a message, "Welcome back Vomit Boy."

Outside a bird took off from the window seal.

* * *

Glynda's scroll was ringing.

" _There's a point where it tips there's a point where it breaks there's a point- "_

"Sorry,' she muttered, dismissing the call without looking at it, wincing slightly at the ring tone. She was lucky it had happened during this meeting instead of in the halls where a student could have overheard. Across from her, Peter and Bartholomew didn't react, remaining motionless as she pocketed her scroll.

"So… that's the current situation." Glynda said, trying to fill the silence that her ringtone had left behind. "Qrow's been watching the boy now and will contact us when he wakes up. Until then-"

"Jaune Arc."

Glynda turned slightly, Doctor Oobleck had spoken first. It was rare for the man to cut off anyone when they were talking.

"Yes, like I said, he- "

"Jaune Arc."

It was Professor Port this time. Also looking at her with a dazed look in his eyes.

"…Yes, we've established this, now back to- "

"The boy whose aura was unlocked during initiation."

Professor Oobleck said, cutting her off again.

"Ye-."

"The student with perhaps the worst initial performance seen in last seven years"

"…"

Glynda gave up.

"The boy whose weapon of choice is a simple sword and shield, while we live in the modern age of dust projectiles."

Glynda sighed.

"Yes." She said, glaring fiercely at the two shocked professors, daring them to interrupt her again. "Jaune Arc apparently possess some kind of transformational power that allowed him to assume such a form and help fight off the grimm that night."

Professor Oobleck made forward to speak but Glynda had enough. Whipping out her wand, she thrusted it at the two, growling lowly.

"Now if we could move on." Glynda said threateningly, "We need to discuss a lot before the boy awakes. Neither I nor Qrow were ever informed by Ozpin of any shape shifting dragon communities or anything remotely approaching transformation on this level."

She leaned forward and the other two professors tensed as her voice lost her aggressive edge but kept its seriousness. "We know nothing about Mr. Arc's power or why he wields it. Is it like the Maiden Powers? Are there clans of dragon shapeshifters? Is Mr. Arc a separate species from us? With a different social structure, living alongside us, fighting some kind of shadow war? We. Don't. Know."

She enunciated, trying to convey the pure uncertainty of the situation without including any of her fear and panic that she had upon considering these facts. To her pleasure, it seemed to be working. Both Bartholomew and Peter focused on her, their eyes wide.

They sat in silence before Peter spoke up.

"Erm… Glynda?"

"Yes?" she asked, giving him her full attention.

The mustached man cringed. " While I understand the seriousness of the situation… and the questions that we need to answer...Could you perhaps lower your riding crop...please?"

Glynda blinked and looked down, taking in the fact that she had just flourished her riding crop with each sentence and thrusted it towards them as she ranted.

"Of course." Glynda said, hastily stowing away her riding crop, a light blush on her face. She was no Ozpin. Ozpin would have been able to convey the issue without wildly waving his weapon. She was just a teacher, a fine competent teacher who was probably one of the best huntress in Vale, but still a teacher. She haddn't signed up for leading a shadow war fight when she first applied to be a teacher a Beacon.

* * *

A group of students, all huddled around one scroll, listening to the news.

"Sorry!"

Some workers were supervising a cart of rubble as they try to navigate to the outside.

"Coming through!"

A tired looking professor, shuffling down the hall, a clipboard in hand as they checked off which rooms still needed to be repaired.

"Excuse me!"

Ruby darted in and out of the crowded hallways, triggering her semblance in quick bursts, letting her squeeze in between groups of people with ease. Paying close attention to the package she held in her hands.

Under normal circumstances, Ruby wouldn't even think of using her semblance in such a crowded place, then again, normally the hallways of Beacon weren't so crowded. However, with much of the campus in ruins, most of the students and personnel were forced into small approved areas and pathways that had been deemed to be structurally sound and safe for people.

With cries of surprise calling out behind her, Ruby simply lowered her head and used her semblance again to help propel herself across a courtyard and into the adjacent building, nearly knocking over a girl with short blue hair as she burst through the main doors.

"I'm here to visit a patient in Room 123!" She babbled to the nurse behind the front desk before immediately taking off again, weaving in and out among patients and doctors alike, leaving the nurse behind.

The nurse blinked in bemusement before sighing and turning back to her paperwork. Huntsmen in training were always so dramatic about every little thing, it was a miracle how they could get anything done without breaking into a dramatic monolo-

A loud thump echoed down the hall, causing the nurse to sigh and look up, squinting her eyes slightly to peer down the hall where the red caped girl was sprawled out, an open door blocking her way.

The nurse watched deadpanned as a tall redhead girl, _Pyrrha Nikos!_ , her brain whispered to her, walked out and crouched down by the downed girl. The red cape rustled as the girl moved. Presumably saying something. The Pyrrha shouted something before running off, leaving behind the caped girl on the floor.

The Nurse's eyes followed the celebrity girl in training as she ran out the doors, before turning back to the downed girl. If she didn't get up soon, she'd probably have to get up and walk over there hersel-

"Excuse me?"

The nurse tore her gaze away from the girl, letting out a breath of relief before she leaned forward, a smile fixated on her face. The red caped girl would have to be someone else's problem. Right now she had to help someone else. A girl with short hair looked down at her, vibrant blue framing her face as she leaned forward.

"Yes, can I help you miss?" asked the nurse, examining the girl's face with curiosity. She looked familiar…

"I'm looking for a boy who saved me during the attack, I… I don't know much about him, didn't really get a chance to thank him for what he did. I-i think his name's Jaune Arc. Could you direct me to where his room is?" the girl rambled on, fidgeting slightly as she looked down the hallway where the red caped girl was slowly standing up.

The nurse sighed, this time with a half-smile on her face, "Of course dear," she said, looking down at one of the monitors, quickly queuing up the patients rooster. "Hmm, he appears to be in the next building, that's where they keep most of the low risk patients right now. You'll want to walk straight across the courtyard into the next building. Let them know who you're there to see and then take the second left and an immediate right. It should be down on the left side." She said, gesturing as she talked. The entire time her eyes didn't leave the girls face, there was something about her… where had she seen the girl's face before?

"Oh, thank you! Thank you thank you!" The young girl gushed before turning walking away.

"Have we met before?" the nurse called after her, "I feel like I've seen you before."

The girl turned, and the nurse took a moment to rub her eyes. It must have been either a trick of the light or her eyes giving up on her after all these restless days of tending to students. Whatever the case, the girl's face was significantly different than what she had thought she saw. Freckles dusted her face and a long-hooked nose looked back at her as the girl turned her head in deep thought. Her eyes unusually bright as she squinted.

"…No…I don't think so." The girl said slowly after a moment. "Though thanks again for your help!" she called as she turned back and opened the door leading to the outside, exiting and vanishing from the nurses view.

The nurse stared after her for a moment, before sighing and rubbing her eyes. "Get a hold of yourself." She murmured before turning her attention back to her desk. " You still have six more hours on shift."

* * *

"So, what happened to the 'buddy rule'" asked Weiss dryly as Ruby took a seat in between her and Yang, setting down the package she had been holding down in between them.

"Blake's was going to get Ren and Nora and I was suppose to get Pyrrha." Ruby muttered, " But Pyrrha immediately ran to get Ren and Nora before I could tell her that." she said scowling. "She shouldn't be running so soon after getting the cast off." Ruby said as she rubbed her face tentatively. While aura had protected her from suffering any injuries, her skin was still tender from the door collision she had suffered. "How is he?"

"Their checking him over now." Yang replied, leaning over and pulling her sister into a half hug. "But he was awake and curious. Asking a lot of the same questions without much time for an answer."

Ruby felt some of the tension leave her body as she heard that. "Good," she sighed, leaning into her chair a bit, and closing her eyes. "Asking questions is good."

Weiss looked over at her, letting out an exasperated breath "You just want him to add weight to Ren's crazy theory." She said flatly.

Ruby cracked open one eye to look at Weiss, "Not a theory." She muttered as she closed her eye.

Yang sighed, "Ruby-, " she started to slide her arm off her sister's neck.

"Yang," Ruby parroted back not even opening her eyes.

The blond girl froze, staring at her sister incredulously before sliding her arm back around Ruby's neck, casually turning the friendly hug into a chokehold.

"Yan-uhh!" Spluttered Ruby.

"Ruby!" Yang replied in a sing song voice.

"Ahem" coughed the nurse who watched them from the doorway with a flat gaze. The two sisters quickly untangled themselves and Weiss rose, her attention on the nurse.

"How is he?" Weiss asked, ignoring her teammates as they both tried to straighten out their outfits, light blushes on their faces.

The nurse paused, eyeing the other two girls before sighing and replying Weiss. "He's awake and conscious though still weak. His aura seems to be healing at an abnormally slow rate although everything else seems to be stable. Burns, bruises, all seem to be fully healed. We'll probably keep him here a couple more days until his aura is at a higher level before discharging him." She rattled off, reviewing the clipboard she held in her hands.

"Can we see him?" Yang asked, leaning forward eagerly.

"As long as you don't put him into a headlock." The nurse replied dryly as she stowed the clipboard and began to walk down the hallway. "Don't agitate the patient and don't damage the room please." She called as she entered a different room further down the hall.

The three girls didn't a move for a moment, each stuck in their own thoughts. The issue of the dragon had become a large one, driving a small wedge in between their friends. Not something large enough to threaten their friendship, but big enough that it was the topic they always ended up at eventually.

According to Ren, the dragon was Jaune. If that was true…

Ruby took the first step. "Well…" she said awkwardly as she clasped her hands behind her back and turned towards the others, "shall we go say hi?" she asked her teammates.

* * *

Jaune leaned back against his pillows, propped up slightly as he craned his neck to peer outside his room's window. He couldn't see much, a tree was blocking the view, but if he turned his neck he could see-

"Jaune!" Ruby said, rushing over to the bedside, her mouth outpouring questions. "How are you feeling? Are you okay? What-"

"Ruby!" Jaune gasped with relief as his eyes lit up when she walked through the door. " You're all right! What happened? Wheres Nora and Pyrrh-"

"Woah" Yang called, grabbing the back of Ruby's cape, stopping her from getting close to Jaune. "Let him breath for a moment Ruby!"

"I am! I wasn't going to-"

"Oh yes you were! I remember when Dad got a broken-"

"That was different! He was-"

Weiss bypassed the two bickering sisters to stand by Jaune's bedside, glaring down at him.

"You have some nerve abandoning us to fight solo. Wasn't it you who told Ren to stick with other people? What were you thinking?"

Jaune blinked, turning his attention from the sisters to Weiss. "Solo? What? What're you-?"

"And then there was that time back in Signal when I accidentally dislocated my-"

"I was nine! You can't tell me-

"Don't you try and play naive you dunce, I know you weren't there when the-

"You coated my arm in band aids!"

"Nine!"

"Wait what did you sa-"

Their voices blended together, overlapping and drowning each other out, until…

"Jaune!" Pyrrha cried out, her voice sending the others into silence.

Pyrrha had arrived.

"I brought them." Blake said into the silence, Nora and Ren peering into the room behind her. One with a grin, the other a frown.

* * *

"So that's it?" grunted Professor Port, crossing his arms as he leaned back, "Just watch over him?"

Professor Oobleck sighed, "We can't judge what we don't know. And until Mr. Arc wakes up, all we can do is prepare for any eventualities." He explained, rubbing his face with one hand. "If Mr. Arc is still the boy we've been teaching, most likely he ranges from friendly to neutral towards us and Vale. However, if his personality is a façade, then having one of us there to delay him until reinforcements arrive is also the correct choice."

. "It's the best middle road for now."Glynda spoke up, her eyes still locked on the shift rotation they had drawn up "Once we get some answers, we can move forward with other steps."

"So, until he awakes then?"

"Until he wakes up. Then we can take action."

The three of them sat there for a moment, each contemplating what kind of action would be needed. Support? Offer of amnesty and further training? Or offense. Attacking with intent to kill this new threat to Remnant.

Their silence was interrupted by the doors bursting open, drawing each of their eyes as they rose, hands on their weapons.

Qrow stared lazy eyed at them as he caught his breath by the door.

"He's awake." Qrow said flatly, watching as each Professor reacted. "For at least twenty minutes or so. I tried to call you but…"

As Professor Goodwitch glared and huffed, nonchalantly pushing her scroll further into her pocket, Professor Port took a step forward, a gleam in his eyes.

"Then there's no time to wait then!"

And without any hesitation, Professor Port threw himself through the window. Professor Oobleck and the others remained frozen in brief shock as sound of the shattered glass and the thump of his college echoed from the street below. Strolling to the window, Doctor Oobleck eyed Professor Port's distant form as it tried to navigate through the crowd, finishing the last of his coffee.

"I'll run ahead and make sure Mr. Arc's alone when you arrive, I was signed up for first shift after all." He said to Professor Goodwitch and Qrow as he put a foot up on the window seal.

"The old boy always forgets that the rooftops are much quicker…"

* * *

"Jaune."

Pyrrha's voice seemed to echo into the small hospital room, demanding everyone's attention. Members of team RWBY quickly got out of the way and stood off to the sides, as Ren, Nora and Pyrrha entered.

"Pyrrha… you're okay!" Jaune said, straightening up further in the hospital bed as a wide smile broke across his face.

Jaune's response seemed to be the words they needed and both Nora and Pyrrha rushed forward, trapping the bedridden boy in a group hug. Ren standing quietly by their side… Until Nora flung an arm back and dragged him into the group hug. Off to the side, Team RWBY watched on, Ruby and Yang with small smiles on their face while Blake and Weiss has softer expressions, allowing their friends a moment of quiet.

"What took so long to find Ren and Nora?" Weiss asked Blake quietly as Team JNPR began to separate, words washing over the reunited friends.

"They fixed large stoves so they can start making some of the food in bulk." Blake replied, taking a seat in one of the chairs in the room and running a hand across her face "And I think they might have kicked Nora out after she broke one of the freezers. They were on the opposite end having lunch when I arrived."

Ruby giggled as she sat down beside her. " And Pyrrha?" she asked.

Blake dropped her hand and fixed the hooded girl with a flat look. "She used her semblance to pull us across campus. We didn't so much find her as be pulled towards her. I'm not even sure she touched the ground once we got outside to the courtyard."

"You could say that," Yang piped up as she sat down on Blake's other side, "She's really 'attracted' to Jaune!" she said with a grin as Blake let out a groan.

Ruby smiled to herself. Finally, with Jaune's awakening, it felt like things were getting back to normal. Like before the festival when the only thing they had to worry about was Professor Port's Grimm quiz or the essay that was due for History. No White Fang attack, no grimm invasion, and no-

"-since when could you turn into a dragon?"

Ruby caught Blake and Yang stiffening as Nora's question quickly killed the conversation between Jaune and Pyrrha, leaving her voice the only one in the room.

" I mean, I told you about the time with Ren, the nevermore and the bathtub and Pyrrha's shared some of her breakfast commercial horror stories, but seriously! That's something you mention to your team!"

Quickly Ruby turned to look at Jaune's face, half eger and half hesitant to see how he'd take the question. Part of her wanted him to admit it. To show and explain how he had done it. But another part of her…

"I mean it's huge! Imagine if you did that during the festival we would have… Jaune? Are you alright?"

Ruby's thoughts died along with Nora's voice as Jaune's face paled to a chalk white.

"W-what are you talking about?" Jaune stammered out. "D-ragon? Me? I… I don't know what

you're talking about Nora."

It was a lie. Bold and obvious.

Jaune was lying to them.

Which meant that it was true.

Yang let out a quiet "No way…" as both she and Blake stood up, joining Weiss who had never sat down in the first place. Pyrrha and Ren unconsciously took steps back away from the hospital bed. Only Nora seemed to be oblivious to the change of atmosphere as she looked at Jaune quizzically.

"What am I talking about?" Nora asked as everyone watched Jaune, "I'm talking about how Ren saw you turn into a dragon to fight that giant flying grimm. Are you okay? Did you hit your head?"

"We'll… uh… you see…I don't-" Jaune began to stutter out, his wide eyes trailing over everyone's in the room, flinching at what he found in each one.

Caution in Blake and Yang's eyes.

Cold detachment in Weiss's.

Realization in Pyrrha's.

Confusion in Nora's eyes.

A thirst for knowledge in Doctor Oobleck's eyes.

And in Ruby's eyes….

…

"Hate to interrupt." Doctor Oobleck spoke up, causing everyone in the room to reel in his direction in surprise. "But I and the other Professors need to speak with Mr. Arc in private. I'm going to need to ask you all to head back to your dorms. We shouldn't have this many guests in here anyways."

* * *

Professor Port groaned as he once again had to slow his speed to navigate through a gaggle of students to continue down the hallway. Whatever time he had initially saved by jumping out the window was more than lost by the constant groups of both students and workmen who moved around the school, each assisting with Beacon's clean up.

" _At this rate anything could have happened by the time I get there."_ He thought grumpily to himself as he was forced to stop and wait as several long piles of plywood blocked the entire walkway for a couple of moments.

Several moments later and Professor Port finally found himself to the entrance to Beacon's hospital. Taking a deep breath, he fixed a determined look on his face and opened the door.

Tried to at least.

Before he could open it, the door opened and several students walked out, forcing him to wait as they passed by. Professor Port watched them go, confused. That was the rest of Team JNPR right? And their friends, Team RWBY? Why were they leaving? Why the solemn looks on their faces, did they even notice that he was standing there? What did Jaune Arc say to-

"Peter."

Professor Port turned around and gaped at Doctor Oobleck who held the door open as he gestured a hand inside.

"Ready? Qrow and Glynda are already inside."

"Erm… yes." Professor Port said, after trying and failing to come up with a way that somehow allowed his friend to arrive before him.

The two men walked off, stepping in silence as they passed by busy doctors and nurses who moved around them.

"How…" began Professor Port.

"Rooftops." Professor Oobleck answered.

The two continued for a while longer, before Professor Port suddenly stopped, squinting his eyes at something.

"That woman…?"whispered the mustached man slowly, raising a hand to his Axe's handle.

Professor Oobleck turned back in confusion, looking down the hallway to his friend and back.

Down at the end of the hallway he could see a blue haired student sitting nervously on one of the benches. She glanced over at them, probably curious about why two Professors were in the hospital.

Not a threat.

"Peter? What is it?" Doctor Oobleck asked, "What do you see?"

Professor Port tensed, then relaxed, blinking in confusion as he brought his hand away from his weapon. "I thought I saw… Never mind. Let's go in, I'm late enough as it is." He said, stepping forward and continuing down the hall.

Professor Oobleck watched him go, a frown on his face. He glanced back at the blue haired girl down the hall who seemed to be on her scroll for something. He sighed, he knew something had happened, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

He followed Professor Port, uneasily turning the situation over in his mind.

Behind them, Sapphire deleted one name from a list on her scroll.

* * *

"Sorry for being late." Professor Port said as he and Doctor Oobleck walked into the room. Qrow gave them no notice as Glynda's attention shifted away from the boy in the bed.

Stupid. Never take your eye off the target.

"It's fine," Glynda said tersely, "Bart was just escorting team RWBY and the rest of JNPR out of the room."

"Now that the gangs all here" Drawled Qrow, drawing the attention of the professors in the room and making the boy flinch. "Perhaps it's time we talk about the dragon in the room?"

Qrow took note of how the boy paled further and began to lightly fidget under the bed sheets.

"Yes yes," Glynda said, taking in a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them. "Now Jau-"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" rushed out Jaune, taking deep quick breaths. "I don't remember anything!"

The room was quiet, the sound of the heart monitors quickening beeping the only thing filling the silence. Professors shifted behind Qrow, trading glances. Qrow himself remained stationary, his attention fully on the blond hair boy as his fidgeting got more pronounced.

"J-" Began Professor Port, only to be immediately cut off.

"I don't know! I don't remember!" Jaune shrieked at him, his eyes wide as a cold sweat caused the light to shine off his brow.

"I saw you." Qrow said, drawing the boy's frantic attention. "I was there when you changed back."

Jaune didn't respond, just staring at Qrow, a stunned expression on his face. The beeping of the heart monitor quickened again, and this time a secondary beeping sounded out, an alarm triggered by the dangerously quick heart rate.

Qrow stood up as Glynda sighed. "Jaune," she said firmly as a nurse rushed into the room, "We'll let you rest for today, but we will need to eventually discuss what happened during the attack. We'll be back tomorrow Jaune."

Qrow only caught the beginning of the boy's jerky nod before he was out in the hallway, he and the other professors ejected from the room by the nurse.

"He needs rest and recover." the matron said sternly at them before shutting the door.

The four adults stood there in the hallway, reflecting on their strange encounter. It had barely even been a full minute before they were thrown out of the room. What had caused such panic? What did that mean for their many theories?

"Well… at least he didn't turn violent. That's something." Doctor Oobleck finally said, turning to look at Professor Port.

"That doesn't really tell us much," The mustached man replied, his eyes in deep thought, "It could have been delayed. Once he gets over the fact that we know, he still might become violent…"

"In either case," Qrow spoke up, reaching into his pocket to pull out his flask. "We know that it's an important secret to the kid. Us knowing might be breaking some rule his people hold. Or even just taboo."

He eyed the flask for a moment, reflecting on distant memories. Sharing those inner secrets from home with the new people you've gotten to know at Beacon… it hit a little too close to home.

Qrow unscrewed the flask and took a deep drink.

"So, what now headmistress?" he asked as he stowed the flask and turned to Glynda. "What's the plan?"

"Same plan as agreed on, watch him until we can learn more. He'll have the night to organize his thoughts and tomorrow he'll have been under observation long enough that a simple elevated heart rate won't immediately summon the nurses." Glynda said, walking away from the building. "With any luck, we'll have our answers tomorrow. Doctor Oobleck? You get first shift."

None of the professors noticed the blue haired girl who watched them leave before turning her attention back to her scroll.

* * *

 _W, list is down to 13 possible individuals. However, Beacon Professors interested in initially dismissed student. Jaune Arc, average student whose friends with three students that the beast interacted with. Add him to the list? E_

…

…

 _E, Disregard the list. test the boy. W_

* * *

 **AN: Believe me. I hate the cliffhangers as much as you do. Well... that's probably not true... Anyways. The next you'll hear from me will be in January. I'm taking December to try and write ahead at my own pace. Plus I think I'll be in a better place on certain plot points after most of this season of RWBY is available for analysis.**


	7. We've Defeated the Dragon!

**AN: Yeah, it's been a while... Explanation below the chapter.**

 **Edited and Beta'd by** ** **Cruzerblade, Cr00cy and KAOS UNLEASHED. Thanks for sticking with me.  
****

 **Dedicated to Cesar. Sorry for ruining your surprise party.**

 ** **On with the show!****

* * *

 **Chapter 7- We've Defeated the Dragon!**

* * *

"I'm doing what I can," Ironwood said on the monitor, "But now that the danger has passed and most of the reconstruction efforts are underway, the Vale Council is beginning their 'assessment' of Atlas's assistance in the crisis. Until that's resolved, what I can do is limited."

Qrow winced. As much as he didn't like the guy, no one deserved the bureaucratic nightmare that composed the Vale Council and their proceedings. It was one of the few benefits to being Ozpin's secret operative. No official functions, no political power, no political focus.

Professor Port leaned forward onto the conference table. "You did all you could lad," He said gruffly, "The attack was well coordinated and surprised all of us. The casualties we did sustain are miracle number given the circumstances."

Glynda nodded in agreement but kept silent as Ironwood sighed and raised what was on her mind.

"The Atlas/Vale relationship has been strained by the situation," Ironwood said, raising a hand to rub his eyes, "in the public's mind, any casualty is one too many. They're going to need a scapegoat and it'll most likely be me." He smiled faintly, "My contacts and history here might have secured my station, but any immediate political power in Vale will probably be moved out of my hands."

"Still a load of Grimm spit," Muttered Professor Port as he crossed his arms.

"Anyways," General Ironwood said, "Straightening up, his eyes sharpening as he unconsciously leaned forward. "How are the… _students_ under observation? I hope their recovery is going along well."

Glynda narrowed her eyes. While he was still speaking in code, Ironwood was asking about the one thing they yet to have answers on. Jaune Arc.

"Their recovering quite fine." She said, keeping her voice light, "Our medical facilities were relatively unscathed during the assault, so we're able to take _full_ care of them."

Ironwood frowned, "Are you sure? I'm overseeing a lot of _medical supplies_ that's coming in from Atlas. I'm sure I could send some your way, just to be safe."

Glynda frowned back. He was pushing it. If anyone was listening in, a fight over medical supplies would immediately tip them off about the barely hidden secret message that was in the conversation.

"Thank you for the kind offer," Glynda said, her face tight, "But I'm sure that there are more important places that could make better use of that aid. We'll be fine for the next month or so, barring any unexpected sickness or infection. _We'll be sure to let you know if we need any help_."

Thankfully Ironwood didn't push any further. With the beginnings of a scowl, he cut the call, causing the projection to vanish,

Glynda let out a sigh before moving a hand to her own brow, massaging her temples. Qrow watched with a lazy expression.

 _She may not had have been as smooth as Oz, but she held her own._

Qrow thought as his gaze drifted to Professor Port. The mustached man had his eyebrows furrowed together before he snapped with one hand.

"That's what you meant by medical supplies!" he exclaimed.

Qrow sighed in unison with Glynda. He missed being out in the field.

The thought echoed in his mind for a second, seeming off somehow, causing the scythe weirder to frown, mulling over the thought. If Ozpin didn't send him out into the field, then there was no reason to…

With widened eyes he turned to Glynda, who had decided to not respond to Professor Port's exclamation and was instead checking her scroll.

"Glynda," he said calmly, trying to keep the excitement from bubbling into his voice. "I'd like to discuss something."

"Yes Qrow?" Asked Glynda distractedly as she began to type a reply.

"I'd like to request two weeks rations and a bullhead drop."

Glynda stopped typing and looked up, blinking owlishly.

"A Bullhead drop? Now? We're still in the middle of redeveloping, what few bullheads that aren't patrolling the borders of Vale are being used to move rubble and carry supplies." Glynda protested, her eyebrows furrowed.

Qrow grinned wolfish at her, "Ironwood already told us that Atlas, Vaccuo, and Minstrel are sending support. They should arrive sometime within the week. Any lost progress by my trip will be more than made up for it when they arrive."

"Regardless, we need Beacon to be back to fully functioning condition as soon as possible! With the loss of the Fall Maiden, it's more important now to secure the grounds. What could be more important than that?"

"I want to hunt down Cinder."

Glynda's eyes lit up as she leaned towards Qrow.

"I'm listening."

* * *

 _Four Months Ago_

"Hey Jaune!"

Jaune looked from the textbook he was struggling through. His look of concentration quickly relaxing as he smiled at the approaching team.

"Hey Ruby! Here to work on Professor Port's paper?"

Weiss signed, quickly moving past her team leader to take a seat at the end of the table, as far away from Jaune as possible. "Pyrrha," she said, greeting the girl who sat across from her, her gaze still locked on the book in front of her muttering under her breath.

"Afterwards you should ask to just 'hang' to help ensure- Oh hello Weiss!" Pyrrha rambled out, quickly closing her book, and looking up at the heiress, her cheeks a light pink.

Weiss huffed and pulled out her textbooks, flipping them open as the rest of her team settled at the table. Jaune and Ruby locked in their conversation. Both eager to stall before they had to work on the assignment.

"I honestly don't know what you see in him, "Weiss muttered as she pulled one of the books towards her, studiously ignoring the frown that briefly crossed Pyrrha's face.

"You know…" Pyrrha began hesitantly, "You should really get to know him, once you get over-"

"His four months of calling me 'Snow Angel' at the beginning of the year?" Weiss interrupted flatly.

Pyrrha jerkily nodded, " _That,"_ she said, her eyebrows furrowed slightly, "But once you start talking to him you'd realize there's a lot more to-"

"Okay look," Weiss said, lower her voice as Ruby and Jaune's conversation died down as the two finally began to write their essays. "I'm sure he's nice or funny or maybe even not dumb, but it's Arc! Kind and not dumb is not good enough to be here at Beacon! And with how well he does in Goodwitches's class, he probably shouldn't be here. He just doesn't have what it takes."

Despite her lowered tone masking her words, Ruby and Jaune still glanced towards their end of the table. The younger girl's curious eyes meet Pyrrha's fixed smile. Jaune's glance quickly matched by a defiant glare from Weiss.

They stayed frozen for a moment before Ruby shrugged and turned back to Jaune, pointing at a book to ask him a question.

Pyrrha sighed and opened her book again, "You're underestimating him." Pyrrha said quiet, her eyes once again on the book "He's not perfect but he's giving it all. It's the kind of honest effort that even I can respect. You'd be surprised what you'd fine if you give him a chance."

Weiss snorted but didn't push the issue. Like Arc could ever surprise her.

* * *

 _Present Day_

Weiss stared at the wall in numb shock. Jaune Arc was a dragon.

The boy who'd failed nearly every test at the start of the semester was a dragon.

Weiss felt as though someone had punched her in the gut. The news so stunning she felt as though she couldn't breathe. Flashes of previous interactions from the last few months danced before her eyes.

" _The names Jaune Arc, short sweet and rolls off the tongue, ladies love it!"_

" _Uhm… They do?"_

She shivered as another memory flitted to the front of her mind.

" _Hey Snow Angel!"_

The boy who flirted with her was a giant golden dragon.

 _A giant maw that opened above her head, an orange glow as intense heat began to seep out._

One that tried to kill her!

"It's true…"

Weiss looked up, glancing dully over at the shell-shocked Yang. The blonde sitting at the base of her and Blake's bunkbed, a stunned expression on her face.

Weiss's eyes traveled up to the top bunk, where Blake was huddled, her eyes vacant as she stared blankly off into the distance.

"So… what now?" a timid voice asked hesitantly, Weiss's eyes turned back, focusing on the form beside Yang.

Ruby, one arm wrapped around her shocked sister, looked at Weiss, an unreadable expression on her face.

* * *

"He's a dragon." Pyrrha said stunned.

Ren sighed and sat down on the other side of Pyrrha, Nora already rubbing the stunned girls back as her eyes vaguely tracked him.

"Yes, like _I've been saying_ " Ren said, slowly, "Jaune's a dragon. Now that it's finally confirmed that _what I've been saying the entire time has been true._ What. Now?"

"He's a dragon" Pyrrha mumbled again, much to the frustration of her teammate.

Pyrrha was lost. Jaune Arc, her partner, was a gigantic reptile. Everything Ren had said was true. Jaune was-

SLAP!

"Ow!" Pyrrha said, more in surprise than actual pain. Her eyes darted to sole male in the room. He was standing over her, one hand still raised.

"Jaune is a dragon. Nora rode him to rescue you that night you tried to defeat Cinder, he was then injured in the process. Like I've been saying _this entire time._ "

Pyrrha blinked and a new thought appeared in her mind. One to grasp to at and hold onto. Ren was frustrated.

A frustrated Ren was much easier to deal with than a shape changing partner.

"I'm sorry for not believing you Ren," Pyrrha said softly as she watched the frustration bleed out of the boy's pink eyes as he sat down next to her with a sigh. "We shouldn't have immediately dismissed what you were saying."

Tentatively she rested a hand on Ren's shoulder, causing the boy to look at her in surprise. Teammates they may have been, however the members of JNPR rarely went out of their way to display physical affection.

"Ahum!"

Except Nora.

Looking away from each other, to give their third team mate a surprised look. Nora quickly turned her brief frown into a grin of excitement as she hopped off the bed to stand before the two.

"So now that we know Ren isn't crazy, what do we do?"

Pyrrha turned to look at Ren, only to blink in surprise to see him already looking at her to guidance. Apparently being the partner of team leader made her second in command.

This _entire tournament had been a mess._ Pyrrha thought,as she looked away from her friends to stare around the bedroom, her eyes resting on Jaune's desk. One of the drawers ajar. Everything had seemed so much simpler before the tournament. Before the Ozpin asked to see her. Before her kiss... Before Grimm attacks and storybook Maidens came into her life. Before…

* * *

 _One Week Before_

"Gah! Okay okay, Pyrrha, you have everything? Weapons? Student ID? Keys?" Jaune called out hastily as he tore open his desk drawers, rummaging through his belongings.

Pyrrha sighed, a slight smile coming over her face, "I've been ready since you've been in the shower. Ready when you all are!" She replied sharply.

"Awesome, Nora? How are the snacks?"

Silence.

"Nora…?"

Jaune looked up from his desk to look over across the room, his curious stare quickly transitioning to a flat one as his eyes settled on Nora shoving the last protein bar into her mouth, her eyes staring defiantly back.

"We. Skipped. Breakfast." Nora justified through a mouthful of snacks.

They held their gaze for a moment longer, Pyrrha trying to quiet her chuckles in the silence before Jaune let out a sigh.

"Ren? Back up snacks?"

"I have several shakes frozen and in the ice chest, and the fruit bars that survived the fermentation process are in the left side pocket." Ren said, walking up to stand next to Pyrrha by the door.

Jaune paused and gaped at Ren before shifting eyes to Pyrrha his eyes pleading.

With her smile a full grin she picked up the small bag at her feet and looped a strap over her shoulder.

"Enough money for some lunch and dinner outside the stadium and a bag of granola to snack on in between." Pyrrha said to his unanswered question.

"Just need to- "Jaune muttered as he opened the last drawer on his desk and began rummaging through it. "find my camera…. Ah ha!"

Jaune sighed in relief, taking a moment to collect himself before standing up, leaving his mess of a desk to open his small bag on his bed, slipping into a pocket a small disposable camera.

"Why do you even need that thing when we have our scrolls?" Ask Nora asked, grabbing her bag, dust cartridges and water bottles rustling inside.

Jaune muttered something as he stowed the camera into his bag.

"Huh?" Asked Nora, cupping a hand to her ear.

Jaune muttered quieter.

"Scrap-booking?" the ginger haired girl asked in shock, a wide grin growing across her face as her other teammates chuckled. "When have you- "

Her growing enthusiasm was cut short as an alarm chimed out, slightly muffled from Pyrrha's bag.

"We'll need to…'learn' about Jaune's 'side project' later." Pyrrha said, opening the door to the hallway. "Right now, we need to catch the last morning transport to the Colosseum for check in. We wouldn't want to be late for the first matches!"

Any reply Nora might have had was drowned out as the slamming of a door across the hallway brought in a cacophony of voices.

"Move you dunce!"

"Ruby, we're already late, you can adjust Ember Celica lat- "

"But Yang!"

"Blake do you have the landing platform for the bullhead- "

"You three can't all fit through the door at once!"

Four distinct voices blended together and talked over one another as team RWBY hastily made their way down the hallway.

"Well." Jaune said, "I guess it's really time to do this. Is everyone ready?"

Nora bounded over with a grin, joining the rest of her team at the door. "Ready, fearless leader!" she chirped, moving her hand into a mock salute.

Pyrrha smiled and raised her own hand as well, "All ready to go fearless leader!"

Ren sighed and shrugged off Nora's constant elbowing to bring his own hand to his head. "Yes, fearless leader, already fearless leader." He said monotony, a faint smile on his lips.

Jaune looked at each of them before starting forward, his nerves settling as he swung his pack onto his shoulders.

"All right then… Team JNPR! Move out!"

And with three cheers, the team exited their room, determined to do their best in the upcoming tournament.

* * *

 _Present Day_

Pyrrha stood up and walked over to Jaune's desk. Ignoring Ren and Nora's questions. Both fell silent as they also joined their teammate in front of Jaune's desk.

"It's a breach of privacy." Pyrrha said after a while.

"I've gone through Ren's stuff." Nora offered, ignoring the look that Ren sent her way. "I'm sure it'd be fine."

"Jaune is different." Pyrrha replied quietly, her eyes not leaving the handle to one of the drawers. "This would be breaking his trust."

The three of them stood there silently, before Ren slowly moved his hand to the handle of the drawer, causing Pyrrha to look up to meet his eyes.

"We may not have ever had it." Ren said, an intense gaze in his pink eyes as he began to open the drawer.

A knock at the door startled the three friends, drawing their attention Jaune's desk. After a moment Ren shut the drawer and walked over to open the door, standing aside once he saw who it was. Peering in awkwardly, Ruby waved. Ruby was already regretting leaving her team to recover as she surveyed the room, all eyes on her.

"So… um…" Ruby trailed off. "About Jaune…"

"And the d-dragon thing?" Pyrrha asked, her muscles in her face tensioning. Pyrrha had barely even begun to sort out how she was feeling about the entire topic. But Ruby's presence raised a brand-new question. How would everyone react?

"Yeah!" Ruby said, nodding vigorously. Glad someone else was talking about it instead just staring and being shocked. "The thing is… well, Weiss actually noticed this, but Jaune technically didn't say he was…"

Ren sighed, causing Ruby to wince as she fiddled with the hem of her cape.

"I-I mean… I don't think it's really…" Ruby sighed before raising her head, her silver eyes locking on Pyrrha's. "We didn't get to actually talk to him." She said firmly, her stance resolute, "What we got was a couple minutes and a 'get out' by Doctor Oobleck. We know Jaune was connected to the dragon somehow. We know the professors think so as well. Yang wants us to sneak into his room tonight. But…" And as her eyes blinked the sudden wave of confidence seemed to crash and recede as uncertainty and awkwardness took their place. "We didn't get to talk to Jaune." Ruby whispered, looking down at her feet.

The four friends remained quiet for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts of their time in the hospital room. How Jaune's shoulders had suddenly tensed, the shift from concern and relief into terror and….

Something else, some other emotion in his eyes. Some turmoil just beneath the surface.

Ren and Nora exchanged a glance, instant understanding passing between the two. Nora elbowed Pyrrha, causing her to shift attention to her teammate.

"Pyrrha," Began Nora, a gentle warm smile on her face, "Let's talk with Jaune."

* * *

"The on-call nurse generally does rounds at this time of night, checking on the different patients that are entered into the hospital." Yang said, holding the window open as Ruby landed on the floor of the hospital room roughly, letting out a quiet "oof" as Weiss landed on top of her.

"Ruby? Why didn't you move?" the weight pressing down on Ruby demanded.

"You didn't give me any time to move!" Ruby replied.

"That's because- "

"The Nurse probably won't be back on this side of the building or at least another forty-five minutes," Yang continued, as her two teammates stopped their squabbling and quickly moved forward, making room for Blake and the rest of NPR. "That gives us more than enough time to sneak into Jaune's room, talk to him and- "

"He can tell us more about how he became an awesome dragon!" Chirped Nora, jumping up from the ground and helping Ren stand up.

Yang didn't reply, simply closing the window before surveying the room. It was a good room to sneak into. A tall tree allowed them access to the third floor where the windows weren't as strongly reinforced as the ground floor. The room, a hospital break room from the looks of it, had several tables set about, a small kitchen area off to the side with an empty cot across from it. Abandoned during the night and with no important documents that needed safeguarding. Yang allowed a faint grin to cross her face. It was perfect.

Ruby stood up, taking in the silence that settled in the wake of Nora's statement, before clapping her hands together. "Well!" she cheerfully whispered, as though she wasn't about to confront her first ever Beacon friend who hide a giant secret from her and didn't even tell her despite the numerous team leader meetings they had toge-

"L-let's go!" Ruby said, turning to the door to the break room. "Jaune's waiting us in room…ah."

"Room 203 on the left side." Ren immediately replied, walking past Ruby and opening the door.

Ruby shivered… as both teams had sneaked towards and now into the medical wing. Ren had almost seemed devoid of emotion and color. He methodically checked around corners, didn't participate in any of the weak side chatter team RWBY had taken part in, and hadn't talked since she had entered team JNPRs room. During the school year the boy was quiet, but now he was… empt-

A hand on Ruby's shoulder broke her train of thought as her silver eyes looked up into the face of Nora, a strained smile on her face. "Ren's just…" the ginger haired girl started awkwardly, searching for the right words, "...tense right now. He'll be better once we're with Jaune again." Nora nodded, more to herself than to Ruby. "You'll see," she said with more conviction, "Once we talk things out with Jaune and get him out of this dingy medical wing, Renny will be A-OK!" Patting Ruby's shoulders awkwardly, Nora moved on, following her partner out into the hallway.

Pyrrha followed her, not even glancing at Ruby, her eyes focused.

Ruby traded uncertain glances with the rest of her team before taking a deep breath. She was team leader, she had to lead. "Nora's right!" Ruby said, a false smile plastered onto her face, "Once we talk with Jaune and get answers, all will be fine!"

Ignoring the skepticism in everyone's eyes, Ruby turned forward and followed Team NPR into the hallway, blinking at the bright medical lights that illuminated the hallway.

They would be fine. They would talk to Jaune and it would be fine. So, he could turn into a dragon, it's not like it would complicate anything! Ruby walked faster, joining the quick walking pace of team NPR.

They would be fine.

* * *

Ren was not fine. For the last couple of days, he had been questioned and approached over what had happened to Jaune. What happened the night of the breach and what he saw. And every time he told the truth, not only was he dismissed, he was questioned further. Talk of nerves in a combat situation, some semblance used on his mind to obscure the facts, and the assumption that whatever he said he saw. It was false. A lie. An illusion. Or disbelief.

Ren felt a presence approach from behind, tensioning before relaxing when Nora came into view. He turned a corner and kept walking, getting closer to Jaune. Only Nora had believed him. Together they had waited for Jaune to wake up. To confirm Ren's story. To prove him right. Now he had, but new question was the next step. Jaune was a dragon, as large as an airship and bigger than most rooms Ren had lived in. Where did they go from here? Would Jaune be allowed at Beacon? Why was Jaune at Beacon in the first place? Why did a dragon come to Vale in the first place? And why?

Ren's thoughts and he feet came to a stop, his destination finally reached. Room 203. Jaune's room, the dragons den a small voice in his head whispered.

This was it. Step 2: Talk to Jaune and… Ren swallowed, his throat dry. How much of their friendship was real? How was Jaune Arc just a cover for…some sort of lizard man? Dragon man? It seemed like some fantastical dream that Nora would have.

The girl in question grabbed his hand, holding it in hers. A quiet support. _I'm here_ she seemed to say silently.

Pyrrha was much less silent.

"This is the right door?" she asked, before grasping the handle and pulling it open, not waiting for a reply. Without any hesitation, she walked into the dimmed room. Ren started after her, not moving until team RWBY came up behind him.

"Um…?" asked Ruby, peaking around Ren. The pink eyed boy took a deep breath and with Nora, stepped into the room, to talk to his friend, Jaune...the dragon.

He blinked as his eyes adjusted to the dim room, taking in Pyrrha's shocked form, the empty hospital bed, and the open window, the leaves of the tree outside rustling, the branches swaying in the night breeze.

* * *

 _Thirty Minutes Earlier_

Doctor Oobleck's night had been an interesting one compared to the rest of the day. The first few hours of his shift were straightforward ones: patrol the medical wing, observe who came in and out, check in on the boy every half hour and then repeat. At night he had set himself up next door to Jaune Arc's bed and settled in for a long night of reading. The break in classes would give him even further time to look over his students essays and further mark areas where they could improve for their next essay. As long as the boy didn't try anything, Doctor Oobleck could sit here with his coffee and papers until morning when Professor Port would come relieve him.

"Needs Improvement." Muttered the doctor as he circled a sentence with his red pen. "Could go into further detail."

Doctor Oobleck loved his job.

He was able to enjoy grading four full papers before the quiet sound of bed springs and the opening of a window next door grabbed his attention. Sighing, he set aside the papers and approached his own rooms window, peering out of it, his eyes narrow.

He observed as Jaune Arc slowly stretched himself out to try and grab onto the branch of the nearby tree his medical gown blowing in the wind. He winced slightly as he watched Jaune fall straight down, landing on his side. It was a good thing the boy had aura. Doctor Oobleck paused a moment, watching as the blond-haired boy pulled himself up and began to sneak across the courtyard, rather unsteadily remaining under the lamps, using their bases to hide from view. Not that it did much. The lamps bright light illuminated his form, casting long shadows as he moved from light to light.

What was perhaps worse was his removal of bandages and patches, tossed carelessly aside as the boy moved, leaving an obvious trail to follow. Doctor Oobleck sighed before he quietly unlatched the window to his room. If the boy was trying to head away from Beacon, then he would be expected to call it in. However, if he was going to visit his teammate or a friend… there was a chance for him to learn more about young Arc's ability to shapeshift.

Doctor Oobleck weighed the two options before pocketing his scroll and grabbing his coffee mug. Any chance for new information that didn't immediately threaten anyone's life was a chance Oobleck was happy to take.

* * *

Emerald stared down at the entrance to Beacon. Watching with interest as a boy in a medical smock tried to sneakily make his way across the courtyard, headed in the direction of the cliff face. Emerald had been watching him for a while, unimpressed with his attempt to climb out of the tree outside his room. Moving from bush to bush in the main walkway, paying no attention that he was directly under the many lamps that illuminated the sidewalk.

 _This is the shape-shift?_ Emerald scoffed to herself. Granted sneaking out of the medical wing did add some weight to the argument but nothing about him screamed 'threat'. No thousand-year wisdom, no draconic semblances. From what she could see, he didn't even have a "dragon form". No scales, no pronounced fangs, not even lizard eyes, just wide panicked blue eyes as he slowly made his way away from Beacon.

Emerald sat back. _How utterly boring she thought_.

Apathetically she activated her semblance, prepared to test the boy, the illusion of Cinder between him and the cliff face, and call it a night. It was an image she had perfected, using it to both cover Cinder's retreat out of Vale as well as causing confusion in the remaining Altas soldiers as she sneaked her way into Beacon. She had just perfect the image in her head, could feel her power gathering and was about to release it when…

"Jaune!"

Emerald let out a breath as several figures ran out of the entrance to Beacon, quickly headed toward the boy.

Ruby, the cheerful little girl who seemed to just be composed of sweet sugar given her personality (and her diet). The rest of her team as well as Pyrrha Nikos and her team running out as well. Emerald scowled and stepped back further into the shadows of the building's rooftops. She would need to wait a little longer. There would be little chance for her to test the boy now, with so many eyes to see through her illusion.

Footsteps at the base of the building caused Emerald to glance down, a plan coming together as she spotted who arrived at the entrance to Beacon.

She grinned. If the boy was the beast she was hunting, then this would be a perfect opportunity to ensure he had as few allies as possible.

* * *

"Jaune!"

They boy in question winced as he stopped and glanced behind him. Team RWBY were headed towards him. Ruby's concerned face followed by the standoffish neutral masks of Yang and Blake. And the rest of his team behind them. Jaune only made eye contact with Pyrrha before his immediately looked away, trying to immediately forget the feelings of betrayal and loss he saw in her eyes.

His friends and teammates caught up to him, the group bunched up in front of him.

"H-hey guys." He stuttered out, trying to nonchalantly take a step back. He was maybe 40 feet from the cliff-side now. If he could break out into a run…

"Where are you going Vomit Boy?" Yang asked, her false cheer evident as she came to stop by Ruby, her legs shoulder width apart, ready to react at the slightest threat.

"W-well…" Jaune trailed off, taking another step back, his mouth going dry as his teammates also caught up, seven huntsmen in training gathering in a semi-circle around him. He shivered as the wind blew across the open area, goosebumps gathering on his arms.

"I-I was going t- "

"Jaune!" Nora called in delight as she pushed past team RWBY to wrap the blond boy into a bear hug. "You're not just awake, but you're well enough to walk!"

She squeezed him tightly, humming in contentment when she felt his muscles begin to relax. She froze when Ren's voice echoed in the silence.

"Nora. Step away from Jaune for a moment."

Nora felt Jaune's muscles tighten, his back becoming ramrod straight as she raised her head to look back at Ren. He stared back, his pink eyes unwavering, guarded, a slight grey tint to them. She narrowed her eyes back, knowing what he was thinking.

"Ren."

"Nora."

"It's Jaune."

"We don't know if Jaune is really Jaune."

"Ren your being- "

"We. Don't. Know."

"Well they don't know about us!" Nora shot back, gesturing a hand to team RWBY. Blake seemed to blink in surprise, her eyes narrowing as she stepped sideways, the rest of team RWBY angling themselves to face both Jaune and Ren. Ruby stayed still, her focus on Nora and Jaune. What had she meant by that?

"They don't know about our village! Where we came from! What we saw!" Nora continued. "Because we haven't told them! We were probably going to tell them. There just wasn't any time!"

Ren's face tightened as more color leached out of his eyes, his semblance coming into full effect to control his emotions.

"We probably don't know anything about them!" Nora said, the words pouring from her mouth. "They probably have their own secrets!"

Behind her, Blake's bow twitched as Yang's eyes glanced towards the faunus. Ruby openly turned to look at Blake, an action that Pyrrha noticed, her confused eyes slowly narrowing as she looked over Blake's form.

Weiss stepped forward, "Now hold on a minute!"

Whatever Weiss had to say, Ren disregarded all of it, his eyes still locked on Nora. He took a step forward, opening his mouth, Nora tensed, shifting her full hug of Jaune to a side hug, facing Ren fully. Was he going to force her away from Jaune? If he thought she was in danger… he might… Team RWBY watched from the sidelines, tensing, not knowing what they were talking about. Doubt creeping into Weiss's eyes as she looked at Ren. Yang thumbed her knuckles, ready to activate Ember Celica, taking a casual step that put her between Ruby and Team JNPR.

"…Nora…"

Both teams froze, attention quickly shifting from each other and back to Jaune as he stared at the ground in front of him, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"Ren's right." He said quietly, lightly pushing away from Nora, his breath slow and heavy. Nora watched him back up a few feet, taking in just how tired and miserable Jaune looked. His hair was matted with sweat and leaves, tired from his escape from the hospital. He shivered again as a wind washed over them, making his hospital gown flutter in the wind.

"Jaune?" Nora asked, suddenly afraid at how uncertain her voice sounded. She hated that, how he flinched at her question. She hated how her voice should have been cheerful and supportive, but instead was lost, confused…

Suspicious.

Jaune took in a deep breath and closed his eyes as he straightened up. He opened his eyes and met her questioning gaze head on. He eyes shifted, taking in his friends and teammates. Blake and Weiss's suspicious gaze, Yang and Ren's calm but intense focus, the questioning looks from Ruby and Nora. Nora saw his gaze shift past all of them, to look at Pyrrha. Before….

"No!"

And Jaune exploded into light.

* * *

Pyrrha was in a daze again. It was Jaune. And he looked terrible. When she had first seen him, slowly making his way from Beacon she had wanted to bring him back to the dorm, maybe get him a cup of hot tea from Ren's supply and let him rest. But she couldn't. Because Jaune was running away from Beacon. Away from them. Because he was a dragon.

Then Nora hugged him and how much she wanted to join her, to embrace her partner, enjoying the fact that their team was reunited after the Breach. That they were safe and together and it was all over. Then Ren spoke.

And it got worse from there.

Team RWBY looking at them with suspicion. Ren and Nora, the two closest people Pyrrha knew, fighting. Jaune huddled under Nora's shoulder, slinking lower and lower with each word spoken.

She opened her mouth to say something…but what was there to say? Her eyes landed on Ruby, who was also still staring just as Jaune, the argument of Nora and Ren washing over her. What was the young girl thinking? What co-

"We probably don't know anything about them! They probably have their own secrets!"

Ruby gasped and turned to look at Blake, her eyes wide as Pyrrha watched on. Why would Ruby react that way… unless? Pyrrha examined Blake faint suspicion in her gaze, how her yellow eyes widened, and she subconsciously took a step back. What would Blake have to hide?

Weiss stepped forward to say something but Pyrrha couldn't hear anything. There was a ringing in her ears and she felt faint. Had everyone she met lied to her? What secrets did team RWBY have to hide? What-

"…Nora…"

Pyrrha's thoughts immediately died, her focus shifting back to her partner. He stepped away, straightening up as he began to look at each of them in the eye.

"I… I uh…I am…"

Pyrrha felt her breath catch as his eyes met her, not seeing Pyrrha, the Minstrel champion or top of their class. But his partner, his sparring partner. Her. Butterflies grew in her stomach, but they felt nauseating. Sour. Who was her partner? Who was her friend?

"I, erm… to be..."

She couldn't take her gaze off his eyes even as they left hers to stare…somewhere over her shoulder.

Were they still friends?

She blinked, and everything seemed to change. Jaune's eyes shifted from uncertain to sudden panic as he shouted out.

"No!"

A bright light seemed to glow from Jaune, and before she was forced to turn away, every instinct in her body suddenly screaming of danger, she saw those gentle eyes… those eyes she loved...grow reptilian in nature.

* * *

Doctor Oobleck watched from shadows of the entrance to Beacon, looking out past the statue and fountain at the group of students halfway to the bullheads. He hummed in thought, considering the two teams. Had they planned to meet out here? Their body posture didn't suggest so. So, then Arc was trying to leave Beacon. But why? And why as a human? If he could shapeshift into a dragon, he could gain considerable distance before shapeshifting back into a human and disappearing into the Grimlands. It didn't make sense!

The Doctor growled as his eyes began to glow lightly, his semblance activating as he pondered the scenario. A light pressure behind his eyes developed as his vision enhanced, several minute details of the student's facial expressions coming into sharp focus. His ears rang as they became several times more sensitive, the words of Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie coming into range.

"This is different! This is Jaune! -"

Ahh a fight then. A big one if the quickening heartbeats of all nine students was any indication. Doctor Oobleck licked his lips as he took in each student's body language. Distrust, confusion, alert, suspicious, the Doctor saw it all. Their hesitation before each movement, the quiet reaction to the argument, each painting a clearer picture in his mind. The friends were uncertain on what to do or how to react to the revelation presented to them. They were in denial, lashing out and tense over a secret they still didn't understand.

And Jaune Arc…

Guilt, Sadness, terror, stress, exhaustion. Doctor Oobleck smiled to himself as he stared at the hospital gowned boy. Confirmation that the ties with his friends and teammates were real. Validation that Jaune Arc was more than just a persona for some being from beyond the Grimmlands. Information. Doctor Oobleck straightened up and began to walk forward, to address the students and perhaps even have a conversation with young Arc.

He had only just made it to the front of Beacon's statue before Jaune Arc's eyes locked with his own. He smiled at the boy, trying to put him at ease and show he wasn't in trouble. Instead…

"No!"

A flash of light later and a giant golden dragon stood in front of him, it's reptilian eyes cold as it stared down at him. The hairs on the back of Doctor Oobleck began to stand up and he felt a rock settle in his stomach. Something was wrong.

* * *

Yang and Blake were the only two prepared for it, both staying on alert the second they got near Jaune. When he cried out and the flash of light began to glow, Yang immediately acted. Grabbing Ruby and activating Ember Celica, she shot them both back away from Jaune. From the corner of her eye, she could see Blake doing the same, her long black ribbon tied to a surprised Weiss as the nimble faunus pulled both of them away from the rapidly expanding wall of scales.

Ren dashed in, lifting Nora into his arms surprisingly easily as he then used the sudden and growing dragon to kick off, moving them both away.

Pyrrha jumped back, more out of instinctual surprise than anything else. Already as she stared up at the sudden expanse of scales in front of her, muscle pushed it out, the pavement below, cracking and groaning as immense weight sudden pressed upon it. She gasped as the beast raised its neck, towering high above her. This wasn't a hallucination due to blood loss or exhaustion… this was a dragon.

This was Jaune.

The fact that had previously sent her mind in circles now broke her initial shock. Taking a step forward she looked up and tried to meet the gaze of the dragon. Ren and Nora had their say… now it was her turn.

"Jaune?"

But the dragon paid no attention to her, it stared off into the distance, it's gaze locked on something. Then its massive maw opened.

* * *

"Hey!" Ruby cried out, dropped roughly onto the ground where Yang dropped her.

"You okay?" Yang asked hurriedly she turned back to assess the sudden dragon in front of her, "Keep quiet okay? "

Ruby slowly got up, any reply died on her lips as her eyes moved over the beast before them. Ruby looked all the way down from the tip of the tale, up over the legs and large wings that remained folded against its body, up towards the large head, far above them all.

"Everyone else is scattered but it doesn't look like anyone got stepped on or anything." Yang muttered, eyes focused instead on the ground, counting the number of people on the ground.

"But…why did he change?" Ruby asked, her eyes not leaving the dragons head as the world seemed to go silent.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha called out. Her call was quickly echoed by Nora and Ren, teammates calling out to their leader.

The sisters stood there for a moment, taking in the massive reptile before them. Neither spoke as the dragon's mouth slowly opened.

"Do you think it's going to speak?" Ruby asked.

"I... don't think so." Yang said, a heavy feeling growing in her gut. "It looks more like…"

Her voice trailed off, as a low groaning began to sound, originating from the dragon. From the jaws of the dragon, Ruby say an orange glow begin to gather.

"Fire" Ruby breathed.

Fire. Jaune was going to breath fire. Why?

"We need to move!" A new voice chimed in, causing Ruby to look away from the growing glow. Weiss looked back, Blake jogging up behind her, the faunus's eyes beginning to reflect the bright light growing above their heads.

"He's attacking" Weiss said grimly. "If we get closer to Beacon- "

Weiss continued, but Ruby didn't hear any other words as she turned back to the growing fire.

Why was he attacking?

Who was he attacking?

* * *

Doctor Oobleck moved fast. Sending a quick message to alert Glynda he dashed forward, extending his thermos into its rocket launcher form, Espresso Shot.

Aiming it, he let out a blast to the base of the statue, damaging the supports. It groaned as he jumped, landing on the top of the statue.

The weakened supports twisted and bent, before collapsing, a metal hollow centerpiece headed towards the ground. Running to the side of it, as the pavement cracked from the impact Oobleck engaged his aura, reaching down and grabbing the top of the statue, the metal torso of some ancient huntsmen in his grasp. Swinging it sluggishly, Oobleck began to slowly rotate, moving the entire broken statue around him.

One revolution, two, three, four. Oobleck's spins began to speed up, causing the momentum to move slowly, centrifugal force allowing him to increase his spins.

Closing one eye, Oobleck calmly counted down as he began to plan his next actions.

 _Four_

He would only have an instant, but he'd need to follow the attack up instantly, not giving the dragon any chance to focus on either the students or the school.

 _Three_

If he could get the creature to chase him, or maybe even get onto it's back, it would have no other choice but to focus on him.

Two

He would need to focus on the eyes and the wings, the obvious weak points of the beast. He'd also need to try and make it non-lethal… but that would depend on this statue throw. If the dragon could easily defend against it, it would mean it had a lot of stamina. Then he would need to bring most of his fire power, however if it didn't…

One

Time was up and Doctor Oobleck let go of the statue, sending it up in a perfect arc, connecting with the dragon's head. The impact had a dull clang as the statue crumpled into the dragons open jaw, mental warping and tearing as it collapsed in on itself, the momentum driving it forward.

Now!

Doctor Oobleck sprinted forward, shouting at the top of his lungs. "Students return to Beacon! Do not engage!"

Jumping over Miss Nikos, Doctor Oobleck came to stand before team NPR, glancing back to take in their appearance. They all appeared to be unharmed, each one seemingly mesmerized by their dashing teacher in front of such a large threat.

Oobleck grimaced, Professor Port's habit of embellishment was rubbing off on him.

"Get back to the school and do not-"

A loud thump drew his attention away, his focus on the dragon's head. The dragon's head...that was now on the ground in front of him, the ruins of the statue next to it.

Unconscious.

"What in the devil's?" Asked Oobleck as the other students began to gather near him. The beast was completely out of it, and now that Oobleck was up close, he could see why. Giant scabs covered large swaths of its scaly hide. It's back missing several scales. The recovering wounds matched the description Glynda had given when she had encountered it in Vale. And Doctor Oobleck had defeated it.

He felt slightly cheated.

* * *

 **AN: And another chapter down! Finally. If you want a full explanation of why this chapter came so late, check out on my author page. For now I'll just say that:**

 **1\. I can no longer estimate when I'll get chapters out.**

 **2\. Not dead, not given up, and it's not over yet.**

 **3\. This was originally suppose to be chapter 2 or 3, so I'm personally really glad that this chapter is out. If we're going by sections, then this is finally the end of the beginning. Next up, the Middle.**

 **Until Next Time!**


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